


warmth

by egirlpatches (BentOvrBckwrds1)



Category: Minecraft (Video Game), Video Blogging RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - Road Trip, Ambiguous/Open Ending, Angst, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Bisexual Male Character, Childhood Friends, Childhood Trauma, Drug Use, First Kiss, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Gay Male Character, Gentle Kissing, Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Implied/Referenced Drug Use, Inspired by Music, Internalized Homophobia, Kissing, M/M, Mutual Pining, Panic Attacks, Pining, Questioning, Repressed Memories, Road Trips, Sad Clay | Dream (Video Blogging RPF), Sad GeorgeNotFound (Video Blogging RPF), Sharing a Bed, Short Chapters, Slow Burn, Stoner GeorgeNotFound, i guess kinda??, like hes literally high in 90 percent of the fic, nothing graphic though!, they both live in a fictional town that's kinda near like chicago i guess, they're runaways
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-01
Updated: 2021-01-04
Packaged: 2021-03-09 22:33:59
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 23
Words: 39,100
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27813862
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BentOvrBckwrds1/pseuds/egirlpatches
Summary: Dream is running from his problems. You would be too if you were in his situation.  Unfortunately, the only person available to help give him a ride is a childhood friend he hasn't spoken to since middle school.George is running from his memories. And his problems. And his old life. And his feelings. And he "borrowed" a car and he has a lot of spare time so when his old pal needs a ride across the country, he's happy to offer.The problem is, there are a few problems. One: Four years can definitely change a lot about a person, much less two people. Two: You can only suppress emotions for so long before they resurface. Three: Being runaways means you are running from someone.alt: two gays stuck in a car together with their suppressed emotions and childhood memories. what could go wrong?
Relationships: Clay | Dream/GeorgeNotFound (Video Blogging RPF)
Comments: 471
Kudos: 835
Collections: lewi's fav





	1. chapter one: vienna.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> but then if you're so smart tell me,  
> why are you still so afraid?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hi and welcome to my first dnf fic! quick reminder to not harass the cc's and don't ship the irl creators, just their online personas!
> 
> so a few quick notes before we get started here! this is a summer-after-high-school fic so both boys are eighteen in the story. i'm trying to keep everything as accurate to their online personas as possible but i'm most definitely going to mess up a few things so uh me perdonas???
> 
> okay i'm done blabbing i'll see you at the end! :))))

3:40 AM.

His cheeks were wet before the shower even started. Dream stepped in and nudged at the lever until cold water brushed over his face, splattering amongst his freckles and mixing with the droplets that slid from under closed eyelids.

The lanky boy stood under the water for a mere two minutes, staring at the floor when he could manage to open his eyes. His own blood mixed with the white tiles under his feet, swirling in a beautiful shade of pink. He could only blame himself for the injuries. He was the one that decided to stay out late and go to that party and enjoy himself and he was simply paying reparations. 

By the time he got out, the water was still ice-cold but he didn’t mind. The eighteen-year-old was distracted by cleaning the fading red from under his fingernails. He looked up, wiping a line of pink from his nose as his eyes met their green counterparts in the mirror. 

He turned to grab the nicest towel in the house, running it over his dirty-blond hair. It clearly did not belong to him.

Slipping out of the bathroom silently, he tip-toed through the dingy, dark hall and into his bedroom. Dream looked around the place without turning on the light, expressionless and cold as he dropped to his knees and slid the boxes and bags out from their hiding place beneath his bed. A sigh escaped his lips as he changed into a green hoodie and loose jeans, shoving a pair of white sunglasses onto his forehead. He scooped up the boxes and fled the room. The expensive towel was the only trace of living left on the bedroom as it laid extravagantly across the bed.

The tall boy closed the front door behind himself, cringing at every little noise it made. He didn’t realize he had been holding his breath until he started to feel light-headed, but every light in the house was still dark. So far, so good. Dream paused for a moment too long to stare at the door. At the cracked glass of one of its panes. He turned and looked out across the inky landscape of night, emerald eyes landing on the shadow of a vehicle in the driveway.

“Get in already! We’re going to take all day at this rate.” A black car was parked at the end of his driveway, music playing softly through an open window and headlights off. The boy in the driver’s seat, George, didn’t own a car. He didn’t have a license either for that matter (being colorblind made that rather difficult), but there he was and Dream had never been so glad to see him. 

“I had to grab my bags, dumbass. What’s your excuse?” Dream leaned in the window to get a better view of the brunet, who was slumped down and looked half-asleep. He tossed his bags into the backseat before opening the driver’s door, forcing the shorter boy to move to the passenger side with a grumble and an eye-roll. “How the hell did you get here anyway?”

“I drove.” George shrugged as Dream closed the door silently, adjusting the seats and mirrors before backing down the driveway and into the unlit street. His gaze shifted from the rearview mirror to George, who was watching his house. His eyes weren’t truly focused on anything. “Are you sure you got out without waking them?”

Dream frowned. “I wouldn’t be here if I didn’t.”

“You’re right. Dumb question.”

The car turned a corner into the adjacent neighborhood and the driver flicked on the headlights, illuminating the road in front of them. George kicked up his feet so he was sitting crossed-legged on the seat, worn Converse poking out from under his knees. He stared directly ahead. The silence was deafening.

It didn’t take a genius to figure out that George was intoxicated. With what, Dream wasn’t sure. “You know, you’re not going to be able to drive again until you’re totally sober.” Or ever. He was pretty certain the other boy didn’t possess a license. 

A sardonic laugh filled the quiet vehicle. “Guess you’ll be driving for a long time then.”

When Dream didn’t respond, George leaned over and turned up the radio. The DJ’s voice occupied the space, which was absent of the two people whose minds were elsewhere. The generic beat of yet another pop song started to thump through the air in thick sound waves that threatened to knock him over with each blow. 

“Really, man? It’s too early in the morning for the radio,” the driver groaned, fumbling to get his phone out of his pocket before plugging it into the aux cord. It had been years since the two were last in a car together, but Dream still hated public radio and George still loved it. Some things never changed.

“No no no! This is a good song!” A quick struggle later and the pop was changed for something a lot louder and fast-paced. Dream’s hip-hop playlist shook the black car as the two got closer to the city they’d called home for their entire lives. They crossed a river and a sign greeted them with a simple “Welcome to L’Manberg” as if they hadn’t been there thousands of times in the last eighteen years. 

“Seriously? If you were going to turn it off, you should’ve at least replaced it with something good.” George crossed his arms and huffed, returning to vacantly staring out the window before Dream could say anything. He never liked George when he was high.

Streetlights zoomed by in brief flashes and storefronts passed in rapid succession. An ice cream place, a flower shop, and then they were in the touristy part of town. There were a few late drinkers and a couple businessmen driving to work, but the streets were barren of their usual party animals, lousy teenagers, and tourist families. George wasn’t processing any of it though. “Who the hell is out smoking cigarettes at four in the morning?” he asked absent-mindedly.

“Oh come on, George. You’re literally high right now. You were smoking something before that guy.” The blond turned from his spot in the driver’s seat to look into the back of the car, expecting to see a stash of some kinda drug back there. Instead, he spotted his own boxes among another set of bags that he hadn’t noticed when he’d gotten in. He stared at them for a moment too long, turning back to the road to discover that he had swerved into the next lane without a turn signal. George had said nothing about it. 

The distance between the two and their hometown, the place where Dream had wasted so many years of his life, started to grow greater as L’Manberg became nothing but a couple of lights and a few skyscrapers in the rearview mirror. His eyebrows crinkled down but a faint smile crossed his lips. He couldn’t help but wonder what time they would wake up. What time they would notice he was gone. What he would say. What she would do. How they will celebrate. 

Dream’s foot pushed the gas pedal to the floor and the empty highway sped by faster and faster. He felt the engine rumble beneath him and watched the black of the sky surround them. Stars whizzed by in streaks above him.

“Dream, are you really in that much of a hurry?” George gave him a pointed look from behind his dark curtain of lashes. They only had one car so if he crashed it, they were screwed. Even then, it wasn’t George’s car so he didn’t care too much. His family was going to need a new one either way because he wasn’t planning on returning this one any time soon.

“Yeah. And judging by the stuff in the back, you are too.”

He got silence in return.

Streetlights passed over the windows of the car, illuminating the interior enough that Dream could see George’s weary eyes and distraught expression. He was typing away on his phone, which Dream could see in the reflection on the car window. He watched as the boy changed something in his settings, flipping switches off one-by-one. The screen brightened his cheeks, adding a harsh and skeletal look to his face. 

The dark road stretched ahead of him for miles and miles, leading southward, even if it appeared to reach to the speckled sky above. Forests laid on either side, darkness lurking between the branches of sickly trees. Dream paid no attention to any of it as he stared straight ahead, lost in thought.

“I wish phone cameras weren’t shit so I could get a picture of the stars,” George said, shattering the stillness instantly. His high was starting to become more obvious and Dream couldn’t help but crack a slight smile. George held up his phone, tapping the screen with a huff in an attempt to get his camera to focus on something it couldn’t see.

After a second, he gave up and set it down. He reached over and clicked a button, changing the input from the aux cord to the radio. Dream’s eyes flicked over and he groaned before a song even started.

“Is this necessary? I thought the rules as the driver chooses the music,” he turned down the volume knob until it muted to which George immediately spun it back up.

“Yes, and not in my car it’s not.” 

“It’s not your car.”

“I-” The silence resumed, drowned out now by the blown-out speaker on the passenger side, which buzzed to the beat of the Bastille song on the radio. 5 AM hung over them like an impenetrable fog, reminding the two of the long journey ahead as the world began to wake up around them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> and that's a wrap on chapter one! how are we feelin' chat?
> 
> i know it was a bit short and i'm not really planning on chapters being very long, but i promise the pace will pick up once the two get past their initial awkward interactions and start talking again :)
> 
> i don't have an update schedule but i'm planning for at least once a week! if you liked what you read or wanna show me something or even just wanna say hi, come chat on [twitter](https://twitter.com/egirIpatches) :]
> 
> also, this fic is heavily inspired by a lot of music from the title to the chapter names so if anyone's interested i might make a playlist of all the songs. if you can figure out what songs are referenced, you're extra pog :)


	2. chapter two. sorry bro.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> ... and i made it.

5:40 AM.

The sun hung low in the summer sky, casting long shadows on everything it touched as it slowly rose into the air above the little black car. The countryside whizzed past as other vehicles started to join them on their early morning drive. Other people were rubbing the sleep out of their eyes or ordering coffee or eating a nice breakfast with family, but inside the car was a vastly different story.

George was reading a book, but it really couldn’t be considered a book at all. It was 50 or so worn pages that crinkled beneath his fingers as he read them, the cover in front of his face so Dream couldn’t see him. It was so faded that he couldn’t read the title.

The blond adjusted his sunglasses and turned his head back to the road, noting that the sun had risen from the east, over the endless stretch of forest to his left. According to the GPS, they would be passing through a few more small towns soon, ones that bordered The Great Lakes. It was a shame they had missed the sunrise over the water. Dream had never seen anything like that, in fact, he had never even seen Lake Michigan besides in pictures but he imagined it would be nice. Probably not as nice as the ocean, but he would be able to see that anytime he wanted when they arrived at their final destination.

The quiet in the car was numbing. He was already sore from sitting so long, and from what had happened before he’d gotten in the car, but the emotional numb made his whole body shiver with pins and needles that pricked his skin. The pain in his nose, which he assumed was either bruised or bent, was nothing compared to the tense air of the car that stabbed at all of his senses.

“Whatcha reading?” he asked when he couldn’t take it any longer.

“Harry Potter.” George didn’t even move the book to look at him, instead flipping a brittle page.

Dream frowned, assuming the other boy was still high. “There’s no way. That book’s like 400 pages long and the thing you’ve got there is like 50.” George just shrugged.

Turning back to the endless stretch of highway, Dream yawned. “Hey, how long does it take you to get sober? I need to take a break from driving.” It was then when he remembered that the last time he slept was well over 24 hours ago. It didn’t matter that George, who was in fact colorblind, should not be driving. That wouldn’t be a big deal on the highway, right? And Dream could just tell him what color traffic lights were-

“I’m already sober.”

“Yeah right! Liar.”

George giggled to himself, finally closing the book and raising his dark eyes to meet Dream’s through the sunglasses. “Maybe so.”

“You’re an awful liar, George.” Dream sighed. “It’s going to be a while, isn’t it?” He moved his hand to rub the sleep out of his eyes, but it bumped his injured nose and he cringed.

“Are you really so innocent that you don’t know how getting high works?” George’s lips curled into a malicious grin and Dream felt his face get warm. He turned back to the road and looked out the opposite window.

“No, I just know it’s different for everyone and I’m wondering when you can drive so I can get some fucking sleep.” He hoped his sunglasses hid the scarlet spots on his cheeks.

“I mean, if you want it that badly I could drive right now.”

“And get us arrested? I’ll pass.” 

George reached over and snatched Dream’s phone from where it was plugged into a charging cord and unlocked it quickly, pressing buttons.

“What are you- Hey, how’d you know my password?” Dream yelped, trying not to get distracted from driving as he swiped his hand to grab the phone. 

“You’ve had the same one since 7th grade.” George pressed a final button and smiled, showing the screen to Dream. He had pulled up a map of restaurants nearby. “There’s a town coming up in about 20 minutes. We can get breakfast and change drivers there.” 

“I’m down for breakfast, but not changing drivers. Besides, I should be fine once I get some caffeine in my system.” Dream grabbed the phone away, wondering why George didn’t search it on his own phone. It was probably dead or lost in the backseat somewhere. He looked down, checking to make sure George hadn’t done anything, before shoving it in his pocket.

There was a beat of silence before he tried to rub his eyes again, yawning. Dream grimaced at the pain. Yep, his nose was definitely bruised. His eyes trailed to the rearview mirror, shifting his head so he could see himself. Sure enough, a purple bump bloomed over the ridge of his nose and trailed under his eyes. A shock of pain coursed through his face as he thought about it again. 

He had been having such a good time all night, even if it had been the exact same as nearly every other party he’d been to. The lights had been dim and the smell of weed made his head hurt. Dream had been on a couch with a couple friends, talking over the music and enjoying their final day together even if none of them knew he’d be gone in the morning.

That was the only reason he had gone. He knew he was going to get caught. He knew it was going to end badly. But none of it had mattered because he was getting in a car with a near-stranger at 4 AM the next morning and leaving his old life behind and that had made it worth it. If it meant he got to see his friends one last time before that, he’d take a dozen more fists to his nose. Besides, he was strong. He could take it.

Dream was pulled from his thoughts by a harsh clicking to his right. He turned to see George with his phone camera out, snapping pictures of the sun shining through the lush forest of trees on the side of the road. His eyebrows were furrowed in concentration, but there was a small smile on his lips. The blond contemplated interrupting him for a moment, examining the other boy’s features with curious eyes.

“What are you doing?”

“Taking pictures.” Click. Click.

“Why?” Dream asked bluntly.

Click. Click. “I… I just think it’s beautiful. And- and I won’t be back here for a while, so I might as well get some pictures to remember it by. That’s all.” 

That wasn’t in the plan. When they had been texting about this, George had said he’d drop off Dream and then go right back home. He thought about the second set of belongings in the backseat again and his mind begged to ask what they were for. There was something George wasn’t telling him and yet he stayed silent about it. It was much easier to question nothing instead of talking about everything. That would undoubtedly bring his own motives into question.

The next big town came in a flood of cars and cluster of buildings that stretched to the morning-fogged heavens. The black car was instantly caught in a cluster of brightly colored trucks and vans and cars, all traveling to unknown destinations but moving nowhere for the time being. Shades of yellow, red, and blue trapped their car in a standstill.

Dream huffed in frustration and checked his phone. It was only 6:15 so he knew no one was awake yet, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t worry about it. What if someone tried to stop him? You couldn’t put out a missing person report for 24 hours, right? Either way, he flipped through Snapchat story after Snapchat story and replied to his usual friends like everything was normal. It was all posts from the previous night though, pictures and videos from the party that he sent laughing emojis in response to. Obviously, no one replied right away. No one else was dumb enough to pull an all-nighter after a party.

Dream could feel George watching up and looked over, fixing his sunglasses. Sure enough, the dark-haired boy was staring directly at him. He didn’t say a word, but his tawny eyes seemed to be examining Dream’s features until he got caught. The blond cocked an eyebrow in his direction and George simply said “I’m bored.”

“I can tell.” 

“Can we… I don’t know… do something?” The words seemed almost suggestive in a way that made Dream twitch.

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Like, talking.”

He leaned over to turn down the radio a bit. “We’re talking right now.”

George rolled his eyes, but he was laughing a little. “No, Dream! Like, a game or something. How about I-Spy? We haven’t played that since we were like eleven.”

“Yeah, because you were awful at it.”

“Please…” George dragged out the ‘e’ until the driver had no choice but to agree. He sighed and nodded and George grinned.

“Okay. I Spy something… red.”

There was a silence for a moment before he turned to Dream with a dark glare in his eyes. “Oh fuck you.”

“AHAHA!” Dream laughed, his chuckles dissolving into a wheezing giggle as George rolled his eyes. “ _You’re_ the one who wanted to play this game!”

“That’s just cruel, Dream.” George feigned sadness.

“It’s not my fault you’re colorblind.”

“But you didn’t have to bring it up! It’s not like I’m just going to mention your- your…” George thought for a second, eyes flickering over Dream’s face, “your stupid sunglasses!”

Dream couldn’t stop laughing. “I- is that the worst you’ve got? My _sunglasses_?!?”

“Well, I could’ve mentioned your busted nose,” Dream froze, “or how exhausted you look.” His eyes widened and he adjusted his sunglasses quickly, fumbling to nudge them up his bruised nose, but George didn’t notice. He kept going, laughing to himself alone. “O- or maybe the fact that you were out _partying_ right before we had to leave! Who does that?!? What’s the point?”

“George-”

“Seriously, what were you thinking was going to happen there? No wonder you’re so tired considering you spent all night grinding on some high school has-beens and worrying about what would happen when you went home-”

“George!” His raised voice startled the boy. He spun in his seat, eyes wide like a deer caught in headlights. It was only then when George noticed his childhood friend wasn’t laughing anymore. He looked nothing short of furious. 

“Dream, I-”

“Drop it, George. It’s done.” 

If Dream could get out of the car then and there, he would in a heartbeat. You could slice the tension with a sword and it hurt to move. He sucked in a short breath and stared straight ahead, his knuckles white on the steering wheel. If George were anyone else, he probably would’ve slapped him. Instead, he reached over to turn up the music and didn’t miss George’s flinch at his sudden movement.

His stomach rolled and Dream realized how hungry he was as the car started moving again. He hadn’t had anything to eat since the party and even that was just chips and soda. Part of him wanted to pull over and find a McDonald’s or gas station or anywhere he could get something to eat, but that meant he’d have to talk to George and that was something he simply couldn’t do.

George had crossed a line and he knew it. He’d fucked up an already on-edge friendship and couldn’t think of a single way to fix it, and so he didn’t try. He decided what Dream needed most was time and wanted to give that to him. He was hungry too, but didn’t want to say it and so instead he moved his seat backward and turned to face the window, curling in a ball and attempting to fall asleep. 

Dream watched the other boy do this and felt a pang in his chest. It wasn’t like he was wrong, in fact he had every right to be furious with George at the moment, but the tension was too high. He’d been in enough fights and arguments to last a lifetime and he was tired of them, so the green-eyed boy set aside his pride and flicked on the turn signal.

The little black car slid off the highway and into the nearest suburb where he found a McDonald’s drive-thru and pulled up. By now, George had given up on pretending to be asleep and sat up to look at the breakfast menu.

Dream rolled down the window without so much as a glance in George’s direction. His silence hurt a bit and George wondered if he’d get anything at all. He was starving but didn’t have the courage to outright ask Dream to order something for him and so he waited.

“Hi and welcome to McDonald’s. What can I get for you?” the tired girl on the other end of the speaker asked. Dream looked over his options for a moment before finally turning to look at George, antagonizingly slow.

“Do you want anything?”

He gulped. “Um, yeah. Just… um…” George could barely get the words out. “A lemonade and a sausage McMuffin?” Dream only nodded in response.

“Hi, okay, I need a large Coke, a large lemonade, two sausage McMuffins, and a pack of your chocolate chip cookies.” George couldn’t help but smile at the mention of the cookies. He and Dream used to split them as kids, arguing over who got the bigger half of the third cookie.

“Okay, you can pull ahead to the next window.” And so he did exactly that, staring straight ahead and adjusting his sunglasses before pulling out his wallet and paying with the limited amount of cash he had. George wanted to offer him money, but didn’t have much either.

Soon Dream had the bag with their order and was pulling into a parking spot to readjust and take his things out of the bag before getting back on the main road. As he did, George got a bit of an idea. He unlatched his seatbelt and opened the door.

“George, where are you going?” Dream watched as the brown-haired boy opened the door to the back seats and moved everything on them to the floor. He stacked boxes and bags until the seats were cleared off before climbing onto them.

“I think I’m going to take a nap back here.” He sprawled out, stretching his legs across the bench and laying his head in his arms. “After breakfast, of course.” Dream handed him his sandwich and soda.

“You know, if we get into a crash or something, you’ll go flying,” he said as he opened the bag of cookies and ate one. He handed the second to George and ripped the third in half so that they could share.

“Then I suppose I need to trust you to not crash us.” George took the cookie and grinned, hoping this meant Dream wasn’t really mad at him. The car started again and was back on the highway after a minute or two. Dream turned the music back up and George closed his eyes to fall asleep.

“Hey, can you put on some quiet, relaxing music?”

“What- no!” Dream tried to feign annoyance, but his wheezing laughter gave away his true emotions. “Ugh! Remind me again why I ever chose to travel with you?”

George thought about it for a moment. “There weren’t exactly any other options.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hey guys! how are we feeling? sorry this chapter took So Long to put out but the only excuse i really have is that i was catching up on all the streams in fact, i'm posting this right before tommy's exile day and right after the !spoiler for last night! destruction of the dream team so maybe right now isn't the best time to be updating a dnf fic...)
> 
> anyway, reminder that i'm on [twitter](https://twitter.com/egirIpatches) so feel free to come say hi!! and if you have any song recs that remind you of this fic or dreamnotfound in general you should drop them in the comments so i can add them to my [playlist](https://open.spotify.com/playlist/5fM4R4qIUtTJOJuospUDGm?si=tEqLClgzQ36RATppGrdelg) for this fic :)
> 
> one last thing! i'm cross-posting this on [wattpad](https://www.wattpad.com/user/egirlpatches) now under the same title and username so if you're bored, i'm in the mood for some likes on there :) (/j)


	3. chapter three. saline solution.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> i think this time i'm dying

7:15 AM

It had taken a while, but George had finally fallen into a fitful sleep in the backseat which left Dream entirely alone with nothing but the aux cord and a rapidly dying cell phone. His main playlist had cycled all the way through 20 minutes earlier and so he had no choice but to play the only other music saved to his phone: his old playlist from middle school.

He should have deleted it years ago and he knew it, but Dream reassured himself that it would be fine. He would be able to listen to the playlist and keep driving and everything would be okay.

The car cruised through the countryside, driving directly parallel to Lake Michigan now, as the first song booted up. It was an upbeat song that he had fond memories of and so, keeping his eye on George to make sure he didn’t wake him, Dream turned the music a bit louder. He hummed along until he felt his throat starting to close, but ignored the sensation. He blinked and felt an icy tear stumble its way down his cheek. Okay, maybe he couldn’t do this.

The chorus started again and he felt frustrated with himself, mad that he couldn’t do it. The memories were four years old now. He should be fine. He had to be fine. Dream resisted the urge to hit the steering wheel or smack the console or crash the car. He was so dumb. So so dumb.

The song ended and another started and instead of pulling himself from the raging river of pain and memories and suffering, Dream let it play. It could only be described as stabbing himself in the chest when he recognized the second song and memories filled his lungs like water.

A flash of a familiar face here, the sound of glass shattering there, the feeling of a hand across his cheek. They came and went as the chorus kicked in and Dream made a strangled noise. His left foot tapped to the beat, hitting the ground like a child’s foot hitting concrete as he sprinted from a crime scene. Fumbling through blurred eyes, he rolled down the window and prayed he wouldn’t wake the dark-haired passenger who was snoring softly in the back.

The wind didn’t help much to drown out the song or his thoughts and he just found himself choking harder. He looked up to the rearview mirror and watched the tears roll down his cheeks. He couldn’t even feel them.

It was too overwhelming. All of it. The song, the memories, being back together with George after all those years. Dream couldn’t bear it, and yet he did nothing to save himself. He simply pushed his sunglasses higher on his nose, rolled up the window, and waited for the song to end.

When it abruptly stopped, it was replaced with momentary silence. Dream let out a rattled breath, releasing his thoughts with it. He felt light-headed and ill and knew he shouldn’t be driving like this. The next song to start was much louder and woke George.

The shorter boy sat up in the backseat, stretching his arms and groaning with indignation. 

Dream coughed, trying to get the last of the liquid from his lungs. “Good morning. Are you sober yet?”

“I don’t know, are you?”

The weight on his heart turned to feathers and Dream groaned. “Nope. Guess I’m driving for a while because _someone_ just _had_ to get high at four in the morning.”

“Whoops.” George sipped from a water bottle, drinking until it was empty, and Dream wondered if it was apparent that he’d been crying. His voice sounded relatively normal and George was too far away to see the tearstains on his face, so he figured he was fine. Even if his old friend could tell, he would never say anything.

“Was that the last of it?” Dream knew there had been a few water bottles in the back, but George had already taken a few and they had to be nearly empty.

“Yeah.”

Despite their jokes, the air was still a bit tense from their last interaction and so Dream decided to change that. “You down to adventure to a gas station and get some more?” He flicked on the turn signal and the car swerved into the exit ramp, sending George sliding across the seat. “You didn’t answer quick enough so you don’t really have a choice now.”

As soon as the car was stopped, George threw open the back door and stepped out with a grin on his face. Dream turned off the car before getting out as well, stretching his legs for a minute.

“Are you sure you aren’t high too? Your eyes are a little red and you’re talking less than usual…” George commented, looking up and into the younger boy’s eyes before he could move his sunglasses to cover them. He mentally cursed himself for not adjusting them earlier as the two walked between the aisles of sugary foods and to the fridges in the back. Dream pretended to be interested in them so George wouldn’t see the deep red flush on his cheeks.

“Last time I checked, I was pretty sober but I don’t know, that might’ve changed. Is getting high contagious?” Dream said and watched as George laughed beside him. He would consider the distraction successful if he himself weren’t admiring the way his old friend’s laugh sounded. He hadn’t heard it in years.

“Oh Dream, you poor naive soul.” He pulled a bag of chips off the shelf while Dream reached for a large bag of sugar-coated candies.

“Are you sure you don’t want candy?”

“I haven’t liked sugar since we were like twelve! I ate all the candy in the house, remember?”

Dream froze, turning to him with wide eyes. “I forgot all about that! Didn’t you have to get your stomach pumped?”

George simply nodded and grabbed a water bottle out of one of the refrigerators. “Yeah, the parents weren’t home and the sitter at the time forgot to come that day, so I called 911 by myself.”

“Shit man, that couldn’t have been good.”

“Yeah, it wasn’t.” He cracked a small smile and Dream did the same. It felt good to be a genuine one.

The duo picked out a couple more snacks, most of which were sugar-free, and checked out. Dream paid, even though his wallet was getting dangerously close to being empty.

“I see you still like that garbage,” George commented, pointing to the bag as Dream carried it out to the car.

“Some things just never change, I guess. And for the record, they’re still delicious.” He smirked as he walked around the car and opened the door, sliding back into his seat. Dream looked in the mirror and noted that his face looked back to normal - or at least as normal as one could look with a busted nose and cheap sunglasses.

“Wrong! They taste like complete ass and always have,” George said as he popped open the bag of chips and stole one.

“Then why are you eating them?”

“I’m hungry.”

The car started and George pressed the radio, bouncing from station to station until he landed on a generic pop song.

“If we’re talking about complete ass, that’s what this sounds like. How can you listen to this?” Dream swallowed a chip, adjusting his sunglasses and backing out of the parking lot.

“I’m not changing it. I had to fall asleep to your awful hip-hop.”

“You should be wrong, but you’re not and I don’t really have a solid counter-argument,” Dream huffed with a small smile, shoving more chips into his mouth. George took one as well and the road trip was back underway, this time with much less tension. It was about as normal as they could get.

An hour later and Dream was practically falling asleep at the wheel. His eyes blinked slowly and his hands changed grip every few seconds to keep himself awake. George sat in the passenger seat now, sitting cross-legged with the window rolled down.

“Hey, got any ideas on how to stay awake when you’re super tired because you didn’t sleep all of last night and your passenger is so high he can’t drive safely?”

George rolled his eyes but he thought for a moment, looking for something to keep Dream awake. “Hmmm. What about those games we used to play as kids? I-Spy? Twenty Questions? Truth or Dare?” He turned down the radio slightly and closed his window, his dark eyes turning to Dream and boring holes in his skull.

“Well, there aren’t many dares we can do in a car.” Pause. “Guess that leaves us with Twenty Questions.”

George looked back to the road, staring straight ahead with half-lidded eyes. “I’d start if I could remember how to play it.”

Dream grinned. “I used to be great at that game, but the problem is that I can’t remember it either!”

“Okay, let’s just make up a new game! We can keep the title at Twenty Questions though,” George suggested and Dream looked at him with a confused expression.

“I see you’re still really high-”

“I’ll go first. We each get to ask each other one question until we’ve both reached 20 and we have to answer truthfully.”

“So it’s like Truth or Dare without the dares?” Dream let out a little chuckle. “Easy enough. And I’ll know if you’re lying because you’re a terrible liar.”

“Damn. You really got me there…” George sighed in defeat, knowing full-well that Dream was right.

He lowered his seat and stretched out for a bit. “Question one for Dream: is your favorite color still green?”

“Yeah. Easy. Question one for George: how long until this high wears off so you can drive?” He let out a yawn.

“Give it an hour or so. I’ll be sober enough by then. Probably.” Keyword: probably.

The car started the ascent of a very tall, almost mountain-like, hill before getting stuck behind multiple other vehicles in a near-standstill. 

“Question two: is it true that you faked a relationship with that cheerleader last year?”

“What? Who told you that?” Dream scoffed indignantly, eyebrows crinkling as he attempted to recall who he had told that very thing. There wasn’t a single name that came to mind.

“So it’s true?” George side-eyed him.

“Maybe…” His voice got quiet and he stared straight ahead, resisting the urge to adjust his sunglasses. It really didn’t matter anymore considering he’d never see that girl - or the homophobic assholes on the football team he’d been trying to impress - ever again, but he felt the need to cover for it anyway.

“Seriously? You’re telling me I had to listen to Alex lamenting about her for months and she was single the whole time?!?”

The car crawled to a stop and Dream put it in park, his eyes going wide. His head whipped around to face George, nearly colliding their noses. “Holy shit. Question three: Was Alex the one that hooked up with her while we were ‘dating’?” He sucked in a breath when he noticed how close they were, backing up immediately. George’s cheeks were dusted with a dark red.

“That’s not my answer to give.”

“George! I can’t believe him!”

The car started to move again and the two asked each other more useless questions, each stranger than the last, as they approached the top of the hill.

“Question 15: who was the person you missed the most?” George needed no further context to the blond’s question. He understood right away.

The urge to make a joke or even lie was very strong because, well, the truth was a bit embarrassing. In fact, it was more than a _bit_ embarrassing. To speak the truth or risk getting caught in a lie. That was the question.

“It was…” George contemplated one moment longer, turning around to look out the window as if it could provide him with answers, “it was you.”

Dream’s face went bright red. He was not expecting that. And he hadn’t been lying earlier either, he could always tell when George wasn’t telling the truth. This wasn’t one of those times. It took him a minute to recover, fumbling for the right words. Finally, he put on a smirk and said “Of course it was. I was always the best one anyway.”

“Oh shut up Dream!” George slapped his hand, which was sitting on the center console, lightly. Dream flinched. He didn’t mean to.

The car arrived at the top of the hill and they could see the accident that had caused the standstill. It was almost cleared, but cars were still being redirected into a side lane.

“Okay, question 16,” George said, silence greeting him from the driver’s seat. “How have you been doing since the group fell apart? I know you got into sports and theatre and stuff but like, are you okay? Is all that stuff still going down?”

It was all petty high school shit that neither boy would ever have to think of again. As for the other things, they were lost in the rearview mirror. He’d never have to worry about those either. Dream kept telling himself that. He didn’t have to lie about how he felt, even if he was a good liar. “Yeah. It is. I’ve gotten better at dealing with it. Learned to upset them less. I wouldn’t say it got better though.” A voice in his head reminded him that if George were sober, he never would’ve asked.

Silence. The hill sloped downward in front of them and the incident was clear so cars were cruising fast again. He let his foot off the brake.

“How are you?”

“Still a bit awful if I’m being honest. I suppose drugs can only numb so much.” George didn’t say it like a pretentious asshole and instead like someone who had known it for a while but hadn’t found the right words.

“Have you tried getting rid of the drugs?” Dream suggested it and immediately George was shaking his head.

“I could never. I’m too far gone.”

“Guess that makes two of us.”

Neither asked what the other meant but as they both spoke in unison, they both meant it. The road leveled out again and the game was over despite neither player actually reaching twenty questions.

“Hey, are you sober yet?”

“No.”

“I’m pulling us over at the next stop.”

“Of course you are.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hello chat! we're back at it again with another update, this time to distract from the wedding (which i won't spoil but... #FundyDeservesBetter)
> 
> so what are we thinking so far? any ideas about what might be happening here? i won't confirm or deny anything but i've had the plot completed in an outline for a while so there is a direction that this story is going in :)
> 
> also here's my [spotify playlist](https://open.spotify.com/playlist/5fM4R4qIUtTJOJuospUDGm?si=jYf5QlgYR8GwiSKOhMgnLQ) for this story! i'll be updating it regularly or whenever i find a song that fits the story well. if you have any songs that you think would work leave them in the comments and i'll add them :)


	4. chapter four. feel good.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> i wanna get out  
> my mouth is on fire  
> you're letting me down  
> my head's on wire

8:00 AM.

George watched out the window as a “Welcome to Illinois!” sign whizzed past, smiling to himself. Dream was fast asleep in the backseat and had been for the last 30 minutes, leaving him very much alone. It was fine though; it gave him time to think. Plus, he could play his music without the other boy arguing with him.

The song on the radio seemed to flow through the vehicle as he drove, rubbing his eyes. He didn’t like the way it felt and moved to do it again, frowning slightly. George wanted to enjoy the music, to take in the scenery or just appreciate Dream’s absence, but his focus was everywhere else.

The shoelaces on his sneaker thudded against the side of his foot every time he moved it. The leather of the steering wheel moved under the pads of his fingers, making him squirm slightly. His eyes focused on the road and he found himself reaching for his own pair of sunglasses, unable to find them. The change in his pocket clattered when he shifted his body, a bit too loud for his liking.

Noticing every little detail wasn’t exactly favorable for George. He would much rather be trapped in the haze that had developed around him for the last few years of his life.

They were nearing Chicago now and he knew they would hit trouble the second he would have to get off the highway. George didn’t have his license. And he was colorblind. One glance backward and he knew he couldn’t wake Dream though. The boy looked so peaceful and innocent despite his eyes still being covered by his white sunglasses. George stopped beside a few other cars at the first traffic light, which he assumed was red.

When the cars in front of him started to move, he followed. It wasn’t as if he had much of a choice either way as he was surrounded on all sides. George shivered slightly at the realization. He didn’t like being this close to this many people for so long.

It would almost be faster to get out of the car and walk. The traffic crept ahead at a snail’s pace and he turned up the music a bit louder to tune out the sound of horn honking behind him, rolling up his window and groaning to himself. He wondered why they didn't go around the city.

He took a risk and turned down a side street in an attempt to get away from the main traffic hub, finding himself in the center of a road with skyscrapers on either side, closing in and suffocating him.

George sat in standstill traffic once again with no plans of moving any time soon. Everyone was on their way to jobs in the city, something he had never had. He pulled out his phone to take a picture of the skyscrapers, pressing it a few times so they didn’t show up as shadows blocked out by the blinding sun.

The song transitioned to a louder one with a heavy bassline that shook the whole car and he quickly fumbled to turn down the radio before it woke Dream.

He turned a corner away from the busy street and passed a school, complete with a playground full of children. George watched them with tired eyes, frowning to himself and thinking about things that hadn’t happened in a long time.

When George wasn’t sober, he never had to worry about the memories. They could try to resurface in the fog of his brain, but never do it successfully and for that, he was forever thankful. It meant he never had to relive all the pain and torment of his youth ever again, and yeah that was the main reason he used them so frequently, but it was all useless in times like these: The rare occasions where George could be considered sober.

Everything was a million times worse when he was sober. It was all for nothing. He could spend months happy and high and away from the darkest corners of his mind, but it would all be useless if he spent more than a few minutes without his security blanket. It was dumb, he knew that, but he couldn’t face the real world. Not yet. Not for a long time.

George’s eyes crinkled and his throat tightened and he wished he didn’t have a stash under the car. He’d feel so bad if he did it. If he got high again. Right? He would feel bad for Dream. Dream would have to drive again. He nearly collided with the car in front of him when it stopped. “Fuck,” he mumbled to himself between shaky breaths. 

_Stay strong, George. Just a few more hours so Dream can sleep._ He kept telling himself the same story over and over, but it wasn’t working. It wasn’t worth it. As much as he cared about Dream, the pros far outweighed the cons in his fucked-up mind. 

His dark eyes flickered up to the mirror again and he felt a jab in his chest. Dream had switched positions but was still fast asleep. His dirty blond locks sprawled across his forehead and over his sunglasses, poking up in weird places. He had a small grin on his perfect pink lips. 

George pulled himself away. He shouldn’t have been looking. That was weird. That was creepy. This was Dream. His _friend_. One of his only friends left. He couldn’t scare him away by watching him in his sleep. That would be fucking creepy. One more quick glance of Dream’s bruised and freckled nose and his eyes turned back to the road.

He couldn’t do it. George’s heart thudded in his chest and his fingers drummed against the wheel and he thought about it once more. Yes, he would feel awful for Dream, but he could deal with the boy’s complaining if he wasn’t sober. He could deal with a lot of things when he wasn’t sober.

With that thought, he flung the steering wheel and sped out of the skyscraper-filled parts of town. He narrowly avoided running through a stop sign in the suburbs before parking in the nearest lot.

It was a little white church that was completely empty; the perfect place to get as far from sobriety as he could. He took the keys out of the ignition, reminding himself that Dream’s college classes didn’t start until September so he could sleep another few hours if he really wanted to. They were in no real hurry. It was in fact the first day of summer and his imaginary deadlines could fuck right off. George looked in the rearview mirror and met a pair of open yellow eyes, sunglasses low on his nose and eyebrows crinkled with disappointment.

“George, what are you doing?” Dream asked.

“Shit.”

His heart pounded against his ribs for all the wrong reasons. He shoved the keys back in the ignition and the vehicle started with a jolt and the radio resuming its soft melody.

“George. What were you doing?” Dream’s voice crackled with a rough morning sound and George turned bright red. The car didn’t move. His eyes clouded over and he looked directly at the floor. He stayed silent.

“George?”

Dream moved to the passenger seat, rubbing his face with one hand to get the sleep out of his system. The movement caused his sunglasses to fall off completely and clatter to the floor, which he completely ignored. The blond sat down and raised one hand towards George, just slightly and slowly, before lowering it much quicker. George wished he hadn’t put it down.

“Can you drive? I can’t do it. I can’t be sober.”

“Well sure you can. You are right now.”

George’s eyes squinted shut and hot tears poured from them, burning their trails into the red-splotched canvases of his cheeks. He wiped them away as quickly as they fell, biting his lip to hold back a sob but it continued to quiver all the less. 

“Hey hey, hey…” Dream attempted to soothe the weeping boy, reaching for his shoulder and wiping a tear that hung precariously from his chin. He didn’t know what to do. It all felt wrong. Anyone else should be doing this. Not him. The teenager in front of him deserved anyone else. Anyone but him. “Fuck, what do I do?” he murmured softly. 

“Just-” George sniffled slightly and wiped his nose on the sleeve of his blue hoodie. “Just distract me. Something. Anything. I need to calm down.” 

“You can’t smoke a joint if your hands don’t stop shaking long enough to hold it.” For some reason, this made George laugh. His desperate sobs briefly turned to a quick giggle that sputtered through his tear-stricken lips. “Okay, uh, what should I say?”

“I dunno. Talk about something you like, or… um…” George’s eyes flickered over his face and immediately pointed to the ground. More tears sprang at the corners and he let them flow.

“Okay… uh…” Dream thought for a moment, trying to find a story or a memory or anything that could be considered pleasant to both of them. It took longer than it should have. “Remember that time in fourth grade - I think - when Tommy convinced our group to sneak out of the playground during recess and leave school?” he started, noting the spark of interest in George’s body language. “Yeah, um, he wanted to go to the middle school because they had a cooler playground and I thought it was a good idea and you didn’t. You didn’t wanna get caught and I said no one cared enough to stop us and Sapnap and Tubbo and the others agreed and we all went together!”

“I do remember that now. We got caught and blamed it all on Techno, even though he wasn’t even with us! He got detention I think, even though I’m pretty sure detention wasn’t a thing for fourth graders.” Tears continued to mark new trails down George’s cheeks as he recounted the story, still not meeting Dream’s gaze.

“You’re right. There were only like 5 or 6 of us who went and yet like 10 people got blamed. They sent a letter home to our parents and everything!”

“I never knew that.” George looked up and into Dream’s vibrant eyes, taking them in for the first time in a long time. It wasn’t every day that he got to see Dream without his sunglasses and yet he still frowned ever-so-slightly. It wasn’t at Dream as much as it was at himself. 

“Oh. Mine wouldn’t let me forget.” Dream’s words weren’t harsh, but they should have been.

And that was the end of that. George dried his tears and Dream released his shoulder and the two didn’t feel any better than before.

“I don’t think I’ll be able to drive.”

“I know.” 

“Not yet at least. Maybe later, when things are a little less awful, I’ll be fine.”

“I hope so.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hi y’all im back! i took a break for a little and this chapter’s pretty short, but it’s definitely better than nothing :) i actually kinda like this one, even if it’s a bit of a mess.
> 
> i’m wondering what you guys have been thinking though?!? any favorite or stand-out parts? i’m curious as to what you guys are enjoying and what you’re picking up on. there are a lot of little interesting tidbits that i’ve thrown throughout and i’m wondering if anyone has noticed any of them yet. one thing that i really enjoy slipping in is the parallel between dream’s mask irl and his sunglasses in the story :)
> 
> i also wanna thank all of you for the fact that this story’s at over 500 hits already??? with only 3 chapters out??? that’s insane thank you so much for the love on this thing! more to come, i promise! <3
> 
> okay i think that’s all i got. it’s really early in the night so i think i’m gonna go ahead and write chapter 5 tonight, edit tomorrow maybe, and it’ll be out real soon to make up for the 1.8k words i i put out today <3


	5. chapter five. sweater weather.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> and if i may just take your breath away  
> i don't mind if there's not much to say  
> sometimes the silence guides your mind  
> so move to a place so far away

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> alt description: the author abandons her first draft and outline for an entire chapter straight because she gets a better idea. she also posts it at 1 AM with minimal editing :) also see that title? yeah this chapter gets kinda gay lmao

10:30 AM.

Dream was officially running on two hours of sleep. While the two had been parked in the church, George calmed down enough that Dream had felt okay leaving him alone and climbed back into the oddly comfortable backseat to resume his nap. He slept over an hour before George got back in and accidentally woke him up (which the boy had repeatedly apologized for). He had smelled like drugs and a smile was finally on his face and Dream smiled back, feeling a lot better now.

So there they were, cruising down I-94 out of Chicago. The blond was back behind the wheel and they were put a bit behind his schedule. Clouds hung over the sky in a haze akin to the one George was now under as the thick traffic that had harassed them in the city followed them out of it. He was still a bit on-edge around the intoxicated boy in the passenger seat but had decided it would be best to completely ignore the moment in Chicago. Never bring it up again. It was much easier to pretend it never happened.

George changed the radio station for the third time and finally found something he liked: a shotty pop station with a status sound that seemed to cut in and out every few seconds. Dream groaned when George nodded in approval and turned it louder.

“Really? More of your radio shit?”

“What do you want me to play? Your awful playlist?”

“Yes, please!”

“I was being sarcastic, Dream.” George did switch the station though, flicking through options until he landed on something that was a bit more of the blond’s taste.

“Hey, remember in middle school when Big Q fucked up the PA system and got it to play the iCarly song?”

Dream chuckled to himself, slightly confused. “No? I think I must’ve been gone that day.”

“Oh Dream, you missed out! While anyway, Quackity was messing around with some stuff and he told the teacher he just went to the bathroom but when he came back, the speakers started playing the iCarly theme song and we all knew he did it but he never admitted to anything.”

Dream let out a short, wheezing laugh. He could picture the grin on his old pal’s face, even if it was a bit blurry and he looked like a middle-school version of Quackity. “Yeah, sounds like something he would do.” His attempts to keep his eyes on the road were pretty futile at this point, but he kept staring straight ahead despite the laughter pushing its way out of his throat. “What else happened when I was gone?”

“Nothing much, surprisingly.” Dream had a track record of missing school, whether it was for skipping or personal reasons, so he knew that wasn’t true.

He scoffed, turning to look directly at the dark-haired passenger beside him. “You do realize that the last time I was with you guys was around when Wilbur dropped out, right?”

“You do realize that I was only friends with them until high school, right?” George mocked him slightly with a laugh, but Dream felt something hard stab into his chest. His eyes widened and he was thankful for the sunglasses he had placed back onto his bruised nose.

“Shit, really?”

“Shit, really.”

“So there isn’t much to say, is there,” Dream said but they were both thinking it. Their story ended in middle school and the book was never reopened. Until now.

“You’re right,” George said. He switched the station until something quieter came on, a song about summer which seemed fitting in the warm car at the start of June. He rolled down a window and stuck his arm out of it, watching it flap back and forth in the wind on the highway. He giggled to himself.

“Starting to feel the high, huh,” Dream said behind him and he whirled around, frowning. 

“No, not yet. Can’t a guy just stick his arm out a window in peace?” He poked it back out, eyes following it closely. George couldn’t stay upset for long though and his smile returned, laughter bubbling from his chest.

“Yep. Definitely kicking in now.” Dream fought the grin that threatened to creep onto his own lips as he watched the brunet.

“It takes effect slowly, I think. Actually, I’m not quite sure. It might just be because I’m really tired right now and I do dumb things when I’m tired.”

“You know, that’s kind of concerning.” Dream chuckled a bit nervously, wondering what could be defined as a “dumb thing” in George’s clouded mind.

“No, it’s just fun.” The boy poked his head out the window now, straining against his seatbelt and looking up at the sky. Dream couldn’t help but notice the bright grin plastered across his face and noted that it was so much better than the tears. If this was what it took to make his old friend happy, then he knew he would be driving for quite a while and was completely okay with that.

They passed through a set of rolling hills with sharp, jagged cliffs out of either side. The car darkened with the shadows of the looming mountains of stone. George pulled back inside to reach for his phone and attempt to take pictures. The sound of his camera clicking filled the silence that flooded the car when the song on the radio ended. Dream looked over to watch him, careful to stay toward the center of the near-empty road.

“Aren’t those all going to be blurry?”

“Maybe.” George pulled his phone away from the open window and scrolled through the photos one by one, giggling to himself. “Yeah. They kinda are.”

“Do you want a nice one?”

“Nah, I like the blurry ones just fine.”

Dream’s eyes turned back to the road, scanning it as they passed a few road signs. He got an idea and flipped on the blinker, turning them down a side road with a quick flick of the steering wheel. George was too preoccupied with the photos to notice. 

Looking up into the hills, the driver found exactly what he was looking for and started the car’s ascent of a spiraled road that led to the top of the hill. It took a few minutes to reach the peak, but the views were stunning and perfect, even from the parking lot.

There was a small building, a few benches, and a tall flagpole that soared above them into the angry grey sky, but no other cars. Dream was anxious to get out and go see over the edge of the railing to get the full view, but he waited for George to notice that they’d stopped first. The other boy was deleting messy mountain photo after messy mountain photo.

“George.” He finally looked up and immediately made piercing eye contact with the green-eyed boy.

He sucked in a shallow breath and looked back at his phone. “What?”

Dream gestured around awkwardly. “We’ve stopped.”

“Okay. Wait, _why?_ ”

“I just figured, I mean, you let me sleep back there so I think it’s only fair we make a stop for you. We definitely have enough time and you wanted pictures. You’ll get even better ones here, I promise.” Dream opened the car door before George could say anything and darted outside to the overlook that he’d spotted all the way from the road.

The clouds swirled overhead, mixing in dark shades of grey that made the deep greens of the endless mountains stand out more. The spot gave the boys the perfect view of their little slice of country.

Dream leaned against the railing and smiled, breathing in the crisp air of the mountains. He hadn’t been on vacation since he was 11 and forgot how nice the world could be. He felt a presence beside him and soon George was there with his phone camera, grinning and clicking the button repeatedly.

“It’s beautiful.” Click. Click. “You were right; these are way better when they’re not blurry,” he mumbled. Click. Dream could’ve sworn George said something else under his breath, but didn’t mention it.

Instead, he stepped in front of the camera’s lens and blocked the other boy’s view of the landscape, making a ridiculous expression. “What are you talking about? I’m always right.”

George scoffed but went along with it, snapping photo after photo of Dream’s inappropriate poses and snickering when he leaned a little too far on the railing and almost fell over. “The perfect center of attention, just like the old times.” 

Dream keeled over with laughter, leaning against the metal to support himself as George continued to take pictures. They weren’t of the landscape but the taller boy didn’t notice. “Move your ass, Dream, I can’t see the hills!”

“Oh, my ass is too fat-” He was cut off by an angry flash of lightning directly overhead. “SHIT!” George jumped about a foot in the air, letting out a squeal and dropping his phone to the concrete.

That was when it started to downpour. The heavens opened above them, releasing gallons of rain onto the two boys and the countryside. 

Neither knew quite what to do for a moment. They were both frozen in shock. Finally, George bent down to grab his phone and shouted to Dream, “Unlock the car!” 

“What?!?” He couldn’t hear over the rain and rolling thunder.

George pointed at the car and made a sprint, shoving his phone into his pocket and pulling the hood of his sweatshirt over his dark hair. Dream got the message and followed, clicking the keys in his pocket until he saw a flash of blue as George disappeared into the vehicle. The rain was cold and bitter as it assaulted his skin and he fumbled to open the door, finally pulling himself inside the warm car.

The shorter boy was breathing heavily, sucking in air and staring ahead with wide eyes. “Holy shit.”

“Holy shit indeed.” Dream couldn’t help but let out a laugh. “Of all the times for us to be on top of a mountain, this is probably the least ideal.” He expected his old friend to laugh, but George’s eyes only got wider. 

“Dream. Lightning. We’re at the tallest point around. Holy fuck. We need to move. Now.” 

The realization that lightning struck the tallest possible object, like a flagpole or a car, hit him like a truck and he shoved the dripping keys into the ignition. “Shit shit shit shit-” Dream backed out of the spot haphazardly and started speeding down the spiral road.

He didn’t get very far. Between the rain pelting the front windshield and the slippery roads, Dream had to stop the car once they were at a safe distance from the top. He pulled slightly off the road and put it in park.

“What? Why’d we stop?” George was messing with the buttons on the dashboard, changing the heat to the highest setting. He was shaking in his soaked jacket and jeans and Dream was too, but he hadn’t noticed.

“Too dangerous. Can’t drive like this,” he ran a hand through his wet hair and cringed, “We’re stuck here for a little while.” 

“Oh?” George popped off his seatbelt and turned to Dream. “Does that give me enough time to change into dry clothes?”

“It gives us both time.” Dream reached back into his bag of clothing, pulling out two hoodies. One was black and the other was white. He tossed the black one to George and adjusted his seat silently before pulling his wet clothes over his head.

“You’re just going to strip in front of me? For free?” George giggled a little and Dream dropped the clothes to the floor, shooting a playful glare his way. 

“Nothing you haven’t already seen.”

George went silent immediately, turning bright red. It was true, they had been gym locker partners in middle school, but that was when they’d both been awkward children. To say Dream had changed a bit since then would be an understatement. 

Sober George wouldn’t have even thought of staring, but intoxicated George couldn’t look away. His eyes raked across his old friend’s strong frame for a moment too long. He eyed the angry scars that traced his ribs and the tight muscles of his abs. “Holy shit,” he murmured to himself. 

“Like what you see?” Dream grinned and pulled the hoodie on all the way, a smug smirk playing across his lips. 

“Oh shut up, you asshole.” It would’ve been a fine comeback if he hadn’t stuttered the whole way through it. George’s face burned and he turned away before finally pulling off his own sweatshirt. It was so full of water that it dripped onto the floor. He was grateful to be in something else but wondered why Dream had offered his own hoodie. If he were sober he would’ve said no and grabbed one from his own bags, but he wasn’t. He appreciated the gesture.

George could feel eyes on him, on his pale back, as he pulled the sweatshirt over his head. Dream was watching. When he turned back around, Dream was reaching in the back though. He grabbed a pair of sweatpants for himself and a pair of knee-length shorts for George.

“These are gonna be a bit big.” He tossed them to the older boy.

“Why are you giving me all of your clothes?”

“Did you bring your own?” The question struck the air with the electricity of the lightning outside. George nodded slightly. Dream did nothing about it, instead moving to unzip his pants.

George couldn’t take it anymore. He turned up the radio and looked the other way and, as quickly as possible, shimmied out of his soaked jeans and pulled on the shorts. They were big on him, hanging loose off his waist, but he didn’t mind. They were comfortable and smelled like Dream.

While the blond finished putting on his own pants, George took a moment to suck in a deep breath. He nuzzled his nose into the hood of the black sweatshirt. It smelled like a cologne mixed with something like sea salt and leather. He liked it.

Dream cleared his throat and sat up, putting back on his seatbelt and tossing the wet clothes onto the floor in the back. That was when George finally met his eyes again. Dream had ditched the sunglasses and stared directly at him, yellow spheres shimmering with interest. He looked good in white.

“Ready to go?”

George coughed. “Yeah, I guess.” It was then that he realized his nose was still against the hoodie. He was caught.

Dream only smirked again, turning to the road and slowly driving the car down the winding hill now that the rain was starting to slow down. After a beat of pattering against the roof and soft music, he asked, “Do the clothes fit you alright?”

“Yeah. Shorts are a little loose, but it’s fine.” Dream’s eyes darted from the road to the shorts and back. He felt exposed without the sunglasses but the sky was too dark to reasonably wear them. His face warmed. 

“That’s good.”

“Do you know how to get back on the main road?”

“Yeah. I think.”

“That’s not exactly reassuring,” George laughed a bit nervously.

“I’m kidding.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 'ello chat! double update was in fact true! i'm back and it's 1 AM and i literally abandoned my first draft of this chapter completely to write this because i got the idea of the two getting caught in the rain and couldn't resist. 
> 
> sorry if the editing is a little shit on this one, it is in fact past midnight after all, but i'll probably re-edit it tomorrow between classes!
> 
> i guess there wasn't much plot development in this one but i'd like to think i made up for it with soggy boys and sub-par tension lmao. as always, lemme know what you thought and of course if you're interested my twitter account is still [here](https://twitter.com/egirIpatches) :)
> 
> one more quick thanks for the insane amount of love this has been getting recently you guys are the best <3 okay gonna go get some sleep now i promise :)


	6. chapter six. kids.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> the memories fade like looking through a fogged mirror  
> decision to decisions are made and not bought  
> but i thought this wouldn't hurt a lot, i guess not

12:25 PM.

Indiana was officially more boring of a state than Illinois. Dream determined this after he drove through what felt like the millionth rolling hill with a little farm on top. Through it all, George snored in the backseat with his book on his chest, worn pages rustling every time he breathed. The other boy’s nose was tucked into the hood of the sweatshirt again and Dream couldn’t help but smile. He would never tell him, but George was quite adorable.

His eyes darted to the GPS yet another time; however many times they’d passed a farm, he’d checked the GPS more. Dream turned the car out of a lane that started to slow down with heavy traffic, darting into the left lane only for it to slow down as well. 

“Are you kidding me?” He’d thought the traffic wouldn’t get bad until they got to Indianapolis, but here he was: backed up in the middle of nowhere. “What the hell?” Dream put the car in park as the guy behind him felt the need to blow his horn for an unnecessarily long amount of time. He turned around to see if George got awoken and was greeted with snores, a little smile crossing his lips. _Good_ , he thought, _he deserves some rest_.

Back in L’Manberg, the time was still 11:30 AM which meant all the teenagers who’d gone out partying after the last day of school were probably just starting to wake up. He definitely would have been among them if he didn’t have plans at 4 AM. As he sat, he checked his Snapchat and sent out a few more replies to people’s posts. 

Dream found himself bored out of his mind after only a short while and wished the cars would move or even that he could just know the reason for the hold-up. He turned again to look at George, tempted to wake the sleeping boy, but decided against it.

The cars ahead started to inch forward bit by bit and he followed suit, watching as a few changed lanes and started moving a little faster. Until they stopped again. At least he was in a place where his cell service was good enough that he could check his texts. 

Dream opened his phone again and went through his messages, spotting a few unread ones. His eyes scanned each contact name, opening them in a slow and hypnotic manner. He was reading them, but didn’t process a word.

**Mom** : where are you

**Step-Dad** : whered you go? Ur mom wants to know

**Mom** : get your ass home

**Mom** : ur in big fucking trouble.

Dream shrugged, wanting to roll his eyes but doing nothing. His eyes clouded over a bit and he struggled to read the next messages. He had to blink a few times before he could make out the letters, and then blinked even more. It didn’t look real. 

Messages from a group chat that hadn’t been active in over three years. He’d completely forgotten its existence.

 **SMP(enis lmaooo)** : (yes that was the group name, no he could not recall the reasoning)

**Sapnap** : good luck u guys!!! have fun in florida dream!!

**KarlJacobs** : I know we haven’t really talked for a while but just wanted to second Sap on the good luck stuff :) I hope you guys have a better time in Florida!

**Quackity** : have fun guys!!! that is if you can survive in a car together for a whole day first-

**TommyInnit** : HAHA TRUEEEEE BIG Q!

**TommyInnit** : seriously though, good luck boys. 

**TommyInnit** : and if Wilbur were here, he’d be congratulating you guys too.

Dream sat and he stared. He closed out of the group chat. He looked at all of the notifications at once, expression completely blank. His fingers tightened around the cell phone with a sudden urge to crush it between them and his eyebrows knit together.

He couldn’t cry again. He didn’t want to. How awful would it be if he cried twice in one morning. He might not even have a tear left. 

Suddenly, without any warning at all, his throat let out a laugh. Then another. Soon, the boy was keeling over in the driver’s seat laughing his ass off. His lungs released everything in him as he dropped his phone onto the passenger seat and went back to wheezing with waves of laughter that crashed over his body in uneven cycles. 

Dream’s eyes squinted shut and his laughter never stopped, but he started to shake. His laughter turned to rattled stutters of sound. His uneven breathing filled the quiet car as he tried to stop the inevitable. 

Sure enough, tears pricked at the corners of his eyes. He didn’t want to let them go, but couldn’t help it. They streamed down his cheeks but he didn’t even try to wipe them away. His laughs turned to loud, messy sobs that sounded as if he were drowning. His body convulsed in on itself with ever shaky breath and his sunglasses fell down his nose, landing in his lap. 

He couldn’t help but laugh at his own stupidity. He had said he wasn’t going to cry, but here he was. It was ironic in a weird way. He could take so much for so many years but how that he was alone, he was finally falling apart. How weird.

Dream’s hand slammed against the steering wheel, the center console, his own leg. Anything he could reach. Piercing pain prickled through it, but he hardly noticed. Was he angry? Dream didn’t know. He wanted to scream, but couldn’t stop laughing long enough too. What else was there to do in a moment like this?

A particularly rough jab at the leather wheel sent a shattering pain through his fingers and he jerked back, hissing in pain. It snapped him out of his laughter, leaving him with everything else. The shakes, the frustration, the tears. 

He sucked shallow breaths until they could turn deeper, his throat opening and filling with salty tears. His choked sobs stuttered out and his limbs fell still, his palm an angry shade of red.

One look in the mirror showed his wrecked face, blotchy and red and purple and bruised. He moved his hair from his eyes and continued in his confused laughter, watching his down tears stream from watery green eyes.

The teen thought to himself, as he had many times before, that if he weren’t so sickly and thin and scarred, he would probably be beautiful. But the thought passed as it always did and he picked up the sunglasses, sliding them back onto his nose and grabbing his phone. His breathing was rattled and his tongue was dry.

“Fuckkkkk…” He dragged out the “d” and ran a hand down his face as the traffic started to move again and he had no choice but to focus back on the road. “I’m such a fucking dumbass.” He plugged his phone back into the aux cord and turned on his usual playlist, making it louder to drown out the last of his strangled sobs before tossing it back into the seat. Dream watched the road intently through the darkened layer of his sunglasses.

Humming along slightly, he cleared his throat and noted that the traffic was moving for good now, shifting back into the right lane as Dream’s foot slammed on the gas.

“What did I miss?” George’s tired voice behind him startled the blond and he jumped, wiping the remaining tears off his face in the hopes that the blotchiness would fade.

“Nothing much, just a standstill that put us even farther behind schedule.” His voice sounded strangled from crying. He hoped George wouldn’t notice.

“There’s a schedule for real?” If the other boy picked up on it, he didn’t show any sign of caring.

Dream thought about it for a second before shrugging. “Not really. I’m kinda just hoping to get to Florida before summer is over.”

His phone buzzed and George leaned over to grab it, reading the messages on the screen before Dream could stop him. He scrolled for a moment, smiling to himself, and the green-eyed boy watched him in the rearview mirror. He still didn’t take back the phone. Maybe, somewhere deep down, he wanted George to see.

The brunet chuckled, probably at Quackity or Tommy, before setting the phone back where it was. “Aw, they still care about you!” 

“They still _love us_ , despite what you may think.”

“Funny, I didn’t expect my first ‘I love you’ to come from a group of people I haven’t talked to in years,” George said casually. The words poked at Dream’s chest, but he smiled. Their friends still loved them, even if no one else did.

George unbuckled his seatbelt and tried to climb into the front seat, fumbling a little when his foot got caught on the center console. Reaching forward, he listed to the left and toppled directly into Dream’s lap. The boy let out a string of curses and Dream’s hand jerked the steering wheel and they both shouted.

“HOLY SHIT GEORGE!” Dream tried to regain control of the car but his foot slammed on the gas and they careened forward at a frightening speed. Luckily, there were no cars in the way. 

George’s hands scrambled frantically for purchase on the console, the dashboard, or anywhere that wasn’t the blond boy. His brain switched to panic mode at the tone of Dream’s voice and he couldn’t react quickly enough. His hands swatted in front of Dream’s vision and he tried to slap them down. “George! George George George! Calm down!” He looked down.

It was like time stopped for just a second. Their eyes met and both boys froze and George flushed a deep red. His dark eyes went wide and he was suddenly hyper-aware of every place their bodies connected. He was about to die on the spot.

_Shit! Fuck! This is the end of the road Dream’s gonna kick me out of the carhesgonnaleaveeonthesideoftheroadi’llhavenowhereto-_

Dream’s laugh cut through his rapidfire thoughts. “George! W-” his words were interrupted by a strained wheeze, “What were you e- even trying to do?!?”

“I- I- I…” The driver’s body shook with laughter, bouncing George slightly as he stuttered and tried to find the right words. To say he was a bit distracted would be an understatement.

When Dream’s laughter finally died down, the older boy could do nothing but bury his face in the sweatshirt he had on and wait for this to be over. Part of him wanted to jump out of the window, part of him wanted to move into the passenger seat as quickly as possible, and a small, _small_ part of him wanted to stay put. He tried to reassure himself that it was so he wouldn’t distract Dream, but it was unconvincing at best and a downright lie at worst.

Dream looked back down at the embarrassed boy beneath him who seemed to want to melt into his black hoodie and die. The brunet couldn’t make eye contact. “I’m sorry! I’m sorry I’m sorry I’m sorry I’m sorry!” He smiled at the sight and looked back up at the road with a small chuckle, slowing the car and pulling over on an empty stretch. 

“It’s okay, George!”

“Huh?” He peeked out of the black fabric, still fully aware of their position.

“It’s fine, man. It was an accident! Now c’mere.” Dream slipped his arms under the boy, surprised by how light he was. He scooped him up and slid him into the passenger seat. “Seriously, you’re fine. I’m fine. We’re all good.” 

George’s face burned a bright red, but he nodded. “Yeah?”

“Yeah. Genuinely.”

“You’re not mad at me for almost crashing the car and killing both of us?” 

“I think that would’ve been hilarious, honestly.” Dream let out another wheezing laugh and, though George tried to hold it back, he joined in. “Just picture the headline! ‘Two Teenage Runaways Found Dead In Car Accident! On Top Of Each Other?!? Gay?!?!’” 

“A headline would never just say ‘gay?!?!’ outright! That doesn’t even make sense!” The incident was forgotten and the tension it caused snapped like a rubber band.

The pair dissolved into a fit of laughter, ignoring the cars that whizzed past and the buzzing of notifications on Dream’s phone and the music on the aux cord. Everything was okay again, even if it was only temporary.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hello ao3 userbase! wow i just wanna give out a huge huge huge thank you for all the love and support on this thing! we're only 6 chapters in and we're already at over 100 kudos and nearly... NEARLY 1000 HITS WHAT THE FUCKKKKK I LOVE YOU ALL SO MUCH!!!
> 
> so how are we feeling about this chapter? i quite like the ending a lot but i seem to have a lot of trouble writing emotional scenes so i have no idea if dream's little panic attack (???) made any sense at all. tbh i just based it off this one time when i got dumped lmao i was in my car and hit my steering wheel so hard i had a bruise on my hand for a week! kinda funny tbh
> 
> anyways as usual i'm on [twitter](https://twitter.com/egirIpatches) come say hi or something :)


	7. chapter seven. raspberry.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> what you mean?  
> where i been?  
> i never knew i'd get so red  
> i got so red

1:00 PM.

Indianapolis arrived in a flurry of clicks from George’s camera and a handful of tall buildings and soon enough, the two were in the heart of the city, enjoying the warm weather of the sunny place. Dream continued to drive while George, still very much high, sat in the passenger seat and photographed the skyline.

“Can we get some lunch soon?” he asked absent-mindedly.

“Can you seat something in the car? I don’t really wanna lose any more time and I think I packed snacks in one of my bags,” Dream said without taking his eyes off the sights outside.

“You didn’t.”

“How did you know?”

“I looked already.”

Dram groaned as George sat up and rubbed one of his legs over the borrowed shorts. “Can’t we just stop somewhere? I wanna get up and move my limbs.”

“Limbs? Yeah, I think we need to get you some fresh air.” He flicked on the turn signal and stopped in the parking lot of a gas station. It was on the corner of a street with a big strip mall behind it. 

“There’s a merch shop over there!” George flung open the door before the engine was even off, darting out of the car with an eager energy he hadn’t had in a while. 

“George! We don’t have time for… that…” Dream trailed off as he watched the shorter boy walk into the nearest shop with a grin on his face. “Seriously?” He sighed and pushed his sunglasses up his nose, stumbling out of the car and following George into the brightly colored, cheap-smelling store.

He wandered between aisles, looking for his old friend. “Oh George…” He turned a corner and spotted him. “George. I thought we were just getting food and going? What happened to that?” The brunet was standing between two aisles of novelty t-shirts, holding up one with the words “Bad-Ass Dad” printed on it.

He snickered to himself, turning to meet Dream’s eyes with a grin. “Should I buy this?”

“Wha- No! I mean, it’s hilarious but we have to go get food.” Dream couldn’t contain his wheezing laughs as he took the shirt from George and set it back on the shelf. “I- I”m trying to b-be serious here. We g-” he stopped to let out a loud laugh, “We gotta go.”

“What about this one?” George held up another shirt with a giggle. It read “Eat. Sleep. Game. Repeat.”

“As a gamer, I’m offended.” Dream feigned annoyance while George laughed harder, setting down the shirt and wandering over to the next aisle.

“I’m leaving without you so have fun getting ordered some lunch you don’t even like! Like, um, a salad or something,” the teeanger called out to his friend as he walked toward the exit.

“No! Wait!” George came tripping out from behind a display of sunglasses, knocking the pair that sat on his nose to the floor. “Shit!” Dream laughed as he walked out of the shop, waiting for George outside.

“So, where are we going for lunch?”

“I think there’s a Taco Bell down the street, how’s that sound?”

“Pretty good, honestly.”

Dream and George walked to the nearby restaurant and ordered their meals, getting them quickly and settling for walking to a nearby park to eat (upon George’s insistence that he still wanted to stretch his legs before they went back to the car).

Children ran on the playground nearby and their shouting could be heard from the distant park bench where the two teenagers sat. One scrolled through his phone while the other watched the kids play. 

George’s sorrowful eyes drifted away from where the youth were dancing and playing and instead found their way to Dream, who was checking a group chat full of theatre kids from their old school. He didn’t smile but scooted closer, watching over the other boy’s shoulder. 

“George? What are you doing?”

“Watching. Oh, and wondering why you haven’t deleted all of that yet.”

Dream frowned. “Why would I delete it? I gotta stay in contact with my friends somehow…”

“For a theatre kid, your acting isn’t very convincing. And you know they can _track you_ through all of those apps, right?”

He hadn’t thought about that. Dream’s eyes widened in shock and he quickly flicked to his home screen, deleting apps one-by-one. Without any further hesitation, Snapchat, Instagram, and Twitter all disappeared from his screen. Accounts were shut down, passwords were changed, and within mere minutes his phone was free of trackers under the watchful eye of George.

“Go to Settings and turn off the Location Finder as well,” he commented over Dream’s shoulder, leaning even closer. His breath was hot on the taller boy’s neck and the contact of their legs beside each other sent shivers up his spine, but he worked well under pressure and turned off the phone when the job was complete, finally turning his head to look at George.

“How the hell did you think to do that?”

The other boy shrugged. He was still very close but didn’t back up. “I already did it, just to make sure that anyone who might want to find me cannot.”

“I thought you were going back home?”

There was a beat of silence, both holding their breath.

“Not right away.”

Dream couldn’t help but chuckle in a poor attempt to remove the heavy feeling that had settled over the both of them. When George gave him a questioning look, he clarified. “What’s that supposed to mean? ‘Not right away’?!? You sound like a cartoon villain or something!”

George sighed, waiting until the younger boy got out his laughter before speaking. He talked in a quiet voice, dark eyes narrowing on Dream’s face. “I didn’t delete _all_ my contacts, just the ones that might try and stop me from exploring the world for a while. Besides, if I blocked everyone and left, I would just look like some pretentious asshole.” He pulled out his phone and looked at his messages, showing them to Dream. He’d sent a long paragraph to nearly every contact he had left (which, to be fair, wasn’t many). They were all his old friends.

“What’d you tell them?”

“How did you think they all knew we were leaving today?” George asked it with a smile and handed the phone to Dream, letting him read his text to Sapnap.

“Hi. So I know we haven’t talked in a while, but I just wanted to let you know that Dream did end up finding a ride to his college in Florida. I’ll be giving him one (but don’t worry, he’ll probably be the one driving because of the whole colorblind thing-) starting tomorrow at 4 AM. By the time you get this message, we’ll probably be long on the road but I think he would appreciate it if you sent him some encouraging words or goodbyes, even if you haven’t talked to him in a while either. Thanks in advance :]”

He read it aloud, much to the distaste of George, who couldn’t help but groan at his own writing. “Yeah I know, it’s not great.”

“I was going to say I really appreciated it.”

“Seriously George, thank you.” Dream leaned over and pulled George into a tight hug, practically dragging the small boy into his lap. His arms wrapped firmly around George’s waist and his face buried into his neck. 

George was a bit surprised so it took him a moment, but eventually he hugged back. He placed his lanky arms around Dream and rested his head against the boy’s dirty blond hair. Despite his own best efforts, George still melted into the hug. His face heated up and his body tingled and he never wanted it to end.

Eventually it had to though and the two parted, standing in silence. They walked side-by-side down the sidewalk until Dream’s curiosity got the best of him. “Who did you all send that message to? Just all our old friends?”

“Everyone you asked for a ride, just to make sure they knew you got one.”

“I-” Dream was at a loss for words for a second. He really had gotten desperate and started asking people he hadn’t spoken to in years for this trip. He’d unblocked old numbers and tried old group chats and scavenged for deleted contacts. Anything to find someone who could get him out of the hellhole that was L’Manberg alive. “Thank you.” He had never asked George and he was on a roll with questions and so “How did you find out I needed a ride anyway?”

“I heard from Quackity. He had a project with me for Chemistry and mentioned it. I figured it was worth looking into.”

“And was it?”

“I’d say so.” 

They arrived at the car in a more comfortable quiet. Dream went back to driving and George went back to reading and the two were friends again.

After a while, the skyscrapers turned to suburbs and then trees. Interstate 65 was quite busy for it being the first day of summer, but neither boy minded the company of the other vehicles around them. The white noise of the engines was a nice backdrop to the quiet music crooning from Dream’s phone, which was muffled on the blown-out speaker nearest to George.

Traffic slowed again in Edinburgh and Dream wondered how they kept getting stuck in these kinds of things. Standstills again and again. He reached over for his phone only to remember there was nothing on it anymore anyway. George snorted beside him, closing the book.

“How are you going to live without social media?”

“How are you?”

“I asked first.”

“Fair point,” Dream shrugged but thought about it a moment longer, staring straight ahead and letting the sunglasses slide down his nose a bit. “I’m not sure I liked it all that much in the first place.”

“Same here.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hi i'm back with another update! this will probably be the last one for a little bit because school is kicking my ass but i just had to thank you guys for all the continued support and sweet comments and love for this story :) we're probably getting pretty close to the halfway point right about now? i'm not sure because i have two ways i could take this story and one of them is The Longer Way and one is The Shorter Way and my initial first draft is definitely written as the shorter way... so the longer one would take some improvising... hmmm....
> 
> either way y'all are cool and i hope you have a good day and enjoy the chapter :)


	8. chapter eight. sparks.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> but I promise you this  
> i'll always look out for you  
> yeah, that's what I'll do

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> alt: it's kinda filler but it's cute so it gets a pass :)

2:45 PM.

They had lost a lot of time in Indianapolis. They wouldn’t get to Orlando until at least 4 AM. George didn’t get two shits.

Singing along to the local radio station, the two boys cruised down the interstate at nearly double the legal speed limit while both had subconsciously determined that time constraints were for losers and it didn’t particularly matter if either of them got to Florida now or three months down the line.

Dream’s sunglasses were on the tip of his bruised nose, sitting amongst his freckles so that the other boy could see the sunlight in the reflection of his friend’s green (well, yellow for George) eyes. His floppy blond hair had been thrown to the wind as well, finally ceasing its endless quest to hide his face from the world. George grinned but the boy stared straight ahead, not noticing when he opened his phone camera and snapped a picture of him.

A blush crossed George’s cheeks as he looked back at the picture for a moment, saving it to a folder of all his favorites.

“Hey, didn’t this used to be Wilbur’s favorite song?” Dream commented without thinking. A heartbeat later and he made a face, turning to look over to George.

“Yeah, I think so.”

Pause.

“We all had kinda shit taste back then,” George covered. As much as he hated talking about Wilbur, he probably hated the silence surrounding the ghost of a boy ten times more.

“Speak for yourself!” Dream exclaimed, “My music taste has always been great!”

“Liar! Your taste was bad for all of elementary and you can’t even deny it. That soundcloud rap from middle school was even worse!” George cackled and Dream jokingly threw his sunglasses at him. George shrieked and threw back his book.

“Hey! No fucking with the driver or you’ll end up in the ditch!”

“Just me?”

“Yes!” He struggled to find his words between wheezes, “I’ll throw you in myself!”

As their laughter died down, George opened his camera again. Dream saw him this time, raising a questioning brow.

“What could you possibly want a picture of? It’s the same 20 hills and farms for miles around,” he said as the lens of George’s phone camera was turned in his direction. Dream instinctively grinned, winking at the other boy.

“The clouds. I can see them in the reflection of your eyes and it looks… really cool.” Click. Click. Dream’s cheeks flushed a shade of red and he quickly turned to look back at the road, suddenly aware of how exposed he felt without his sunglasses. Click. Click. Click.

“Did you get my good side?” He smirked slightly.

“Do you have one?” George grinned as Dream swatted lightly at the phone. He flipped through the photos, clicking the little heart button near the ones he liked the best. Nearly all of them ended up in the “Loved Photos” folder.

“I have two actually,” Dream said a heartbeat later, turning back to George to demonstrate. The other boy jokingly took another picture.

“You should probably pay attention to the road,” he said it as if they weren’t swerving into the next lane already, in danger of getting into an accident.

“Shit!” Dream cursed as he yanked the wheel to get them back into their lane and shot an expression of fake-annoyance to George. “You should probably have said that earlier.”

“I don’t think that grammar was correct.”

“I was mocking you.”

George snickered and the car descended into momentary silence, climbing a mountain in front of it and slowing down slightly. Soft music - some kind of dumb love song off Dream’s playlist -wafted through the air like a pleasant smell and made him smile. He hummed lightly and lifted his feet to sit crossed-legged and lean back comfortably, lost in the lyrics.

The dark-haired boy’s thoughts returned to their usual topics and his eyes clouded over slightly. His left hand looped with his right and he stared out at the sky, still humming along. It was like he was alone in the car, even with Dream beside him, but he was quite used to that feeling anyway.

A new song started and it was definitely in a rom-com that George had seen at one point. It was probably the ending or credit music from what he could remember as it was about being happy and in love. If it was a believable movie, he had definitely cried to this. He always cried at the good ones.

Now that he thought about it again, he could remember the tears trailing down his face and frowned while his eyes darted to the floor. It wasn’t necessarily a bad feeling, but a bothersome one to say the least. He curled in on himself and pressed his crossed legs to his chest, mind fumbling to resurface memories that he didn’t want.

Dream called to George, but he ignored it. Again. A third time. On the fourth time, there was a hand on top of his and he gasped slightly, looking over to his old friend and immediately being pulled from the murky waters of his own mind.

“Dude, you good? You kinda zoned out there.”

“Yeah, I think I’m fine.” Dream’s hand still hadn’t moved. George said nothing about it. He’d much rather keep it there and pretend he was in one of the cars driving past, looking in the window and taking it out of context. From beyond the metallic construct of the vehicle, they could’ve been anything. Brothers. Boyfriends. Best friends who’d known each other since they were little and stuck together through everything.

Besides, Dream’s hand was warm. It was way larger than George’s and his long fingers fit perfectly between the spaces of the brunet’s. 

The problem was that the second his friend’s golden eyes darted down to their connection, it immediately disappeared. He pulled his fingers away and they were only replaced by an awkward space full of quiet. And regret. Just the thing George wanted least. He could barely handle what he already had.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> tonight feels like a double-update kinda night. how we feeling about that guys? i just need to make up for the fact that this barely scrapes past 1k words tbh. 
> 
> anyway i hit y'all with some wilbur lore and dream's sunglasses came off again and oh no the sad boys are sad again (but is that even surprising at this point?) so i guess i can't say this chapter is entirely filler...
> 
> i'm super excited for the next one though. it's a break in the pace of the main story so it's gonna be a little different, but i think that's what we as readers need about now, huh. it'll probably come out later today or early tomorrow :)


	9. chapter nine. hold me just because.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> hold me just because  
> we're alone together  
> i've been wasting away on my own  
> i've been waiting for this to get old  
> i've been trying my best to get over you

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> uh oh.

George hadn’t dreamt in years.

He woke up in a house very similar to his own. The large flat-screen television was in the center of the wall and the long glass windows behind him let a dull, grey light into the room. The only thing to indicate that it wasn’t where he had grown up was the fact that it wasn’t empty.

The floors were coated in hundreds of thousands of yellow flowers. He wasn’t quite sure, but George thought they were carnations. He wondered if they were a hallucination, noting that this wasn’t the strangest hallucination he’d ever had.

Over in the corner, where the door to his parents’ bedroom normally stood, sat a circle of people. They were all around his age, but he couldn’t see any of their faces. He recognized a few from behind. Sapnap. Quackity. Karl. Niki. BadBoyHalo. Wilbur. Most of them were strangers though. 

The people were talking, but George couldn’t hear a word they were saying. He just heard mumbling and when he tried to move, he realized it was because there were carnations in his ears. The yellow flowers coated his body as well as the expensive floors. He briefly wondered how he would get them all out before his parents came home.

One of the people finally noticed him and turned to wave him over. It was Dream, who was wearing his usual sunglasses. He smiled and shot the other boy a quick wave, shouting something that he couldn’t hear but remaining seated.

“What?” George called. He still couldn’t hear. He tried to stand to join his friends, but found that he was immobile. He pulled at the flowers, but they kept him tied down like fitted sheets on a bed. “Dream! Come over here and help me out!” Dream didn’t move, just continued to wave and yell. “Dude, stop being a dumbass and come get me out of here!”

He wanted to run over to them. He wanted to say something, anything, to get them to notice his situation and help him out but they seemed to have flowers in their ears too. George could feel himself running out of breath. It was like he had run a marathon when he hadn’t taken a single step. He sucked air in and out of his nose, shouting now but still completely silent and perfectly still.

“Dream! Karl! Sapnap! Wilbur!” George tried to shout their names but it took too much breath. He felt as though if he were to run anymore, he’d pass out. It was like he’d ran the pacer test from middle school, about ten miles, _and_ all the way to his childhood playground, but he swore he hadn’t actually moved. He begged himself to stop doing whatever it was that caused his lungs to collapse on themselves, but nothing could be done.

Finally, Wilbur, Sapnap, and Niki stood up. Sapnap was the first to turn around, but it wasn’t Sapnap. His face was that of George’s father and George gasped, screaming silently for no one to hear. Niki held his mother’s disappointed expression on what definitely wasn’t her head. Wilbur was the last to turn, but he was different from the other two. He had Dream’s face, but Dream was smiling. His eyes were absent of his usual sunglasses. The other two looked nothing but disappointed. 

Wilbur/Dream had one flower on his whole body and it rested over his heart, clinging to his shirt as he moved. It was a daffodil-like plant with tube-shaped leaves and a cluster of yellow petals. He cowered in his spot as the other two approached him, scooping up handfuls of the flowers from the floor.

“Please! What’s going on? I don’t know who you are or what you what but please, just talk to me!” George tried to reason with them as his parents got closer, hands filled with yellow carnations. “Stop! Help!”

His mother filled his open mouth with the plants and he struggled to spit them out, noting that they tasted of nothing at all. His father dumped his bundle over his head and soon both were piling the petals around his face, all whilst Dream grinned behind them. “Dream… Wilbur… please…” George pleaded, sputtering on the petals going down his throat, “help me!”

Soon his eyes were covered and he was left with darkness and the sounds of his labored breathing. He could feel the air disappearing from his lungs and being replaced with flower petals as he started to lose consciousness. 

The last thing the teenager could think was “I can’t believe my murderers are my own fucking parents” and then he was gone.

George sat up in the passenger seat of the black car, his busted speaker playing muffled music beside him. He thought he might be screaming, but he wasn’t sure. Either way, the brunet clawed at his neck and lungs, struggling to breathe.

“Oh my God! George!” Dream whirled around, taking his hands off the steering wheel to try and help the smaller boy. “What’s happening? Are you okay?” He tried to reach to grab any part of George, but the passenger was shaking too much. He was paying no attention to the road.

George’s eyes never met his. They squinted shut and he scratched at his face and rubbed his eyes and screamed like he had witnessed a murder. Something really bad had happened while he was asleep. “George George George George, what happened? Talk to me here, please-”

“THE ROAD!” 

“No no no, the road is fine. George, are you alright?”

“DREAM! THE ROAD!” It was then when he finally turned back to watch the country road turn into grass as the car careened off the path and into the ditch. The only thing he could think to do was scream.

“HOLY SHIT!”

Dream grabbed George’s arm and held on tight, watching in horror as the black car bounced over long grass. It splattered across the windshield until they couldn’t see out it anymore and George was shrieking something about hitting the brakes.

“Shit! You’re right!” Dream’s foot slammed on the brake as they emerged from the grass and just about slammed into a tree at the edge of an endless forest. The front of the vehicle bumped the tree trunk lightly and it sputtered to a stop.

It all took a second to process. For a moment neither boy said a word. Both just sat and stared straight ahead at the tree and the grass and the forest. The music was still playing.

Finally, Dream flung off his seatbelt and turned to George, who was shaking even harder than before. He wasn’t crying, but his face was red and blotchy and his eyes were wide. The brunet turned to Dream. It felt like everything was moving in slow motion. Neither boy said a word when the driver flung his arms around his old friend and pulled him in tight.

Dream was crying. If asked why, he wouldn’t even have a good answer. Luckily, George didn’t ask anything of him. He just let him sob into his shoulder, hugging him back with just as much care. The two sat in the quiet, holding each other like the world was ending because maybe it just might be.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> my computer decided to just fucking die today for some reason so this update is brought to you by my iphone! wooo!
> 
> anyway, another kinda short chapter for you but it’s definitely a departure from the main story structure so that’s cool i guess :) i have one more chapter planned that’s kinda a shift from the main plot but it’s not until like the very end so that’s exciting... hehehehe...
> 
> anyway, just wanted to say that the song this chapter is titled after, [hold me just because by madeon](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=039Rj1cVcAY&ab_channel=MadeonVEVO), is an absolute underrated jam and fits the ending of this chapter very well and you should stream it because it makes me cry and reminds me of the boys :,) (also here’s the [spotify playlist](https://open.spotify.com/playlist/5fM4R4qIUtTJOJuospUDGm?si=wYVrUG8QS2aj36Xyzp8lYQ) for this story again because i added more songs)
> 
> bonus fun fact: in my first draft they never crashed the car, but i thought that was boring and decided to ruin my initial plot ideas even more than i already had so here we are :)


	10. chapter ten. the other side of paradise.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> bye bye baby blue  
> i wish you could see the wicked truth  
> caught up in a rush, it's killing you

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this is literally just george and dream being gay for 20 minutes straight. okay carry on now.

4:00 PM.

It had been ten minutes since the car had crashed, but neither boy had moved out of it. Dream hadn’t stopped hugging George either. He was taking in the feeling of being held. It was a new feeling.

He had decided about five minutes in that he really liked it. He liked being able to hear George’s heartbeat, even if it was insanely fast, and feel the older boy’s hand in his hair and bury his face in his warm chest.

George didn’t mind it much either. He was never a touchy person, but hugs felt different when Dream was the one giving them. They felt genuine. Real. It was the first time he had ever really touched Dream. It felt good, even if his face burned and his heart thumped and his chest felt tight.

“What are we gonna do, George?” Dream asked against his chest.

George hummed and looked away from the blond and over to the tree in front of the car. “I don’t know.”

Dream looked up, shimmering green eyes meeting George’s. The lower half of his face was still buried in the fabric of the hoodie and he looked younger, like a scared pre-teen. His hair was messy, falling in front of his eyes and sticking up in places. “Are you, um, good now?”

The music had stopped a little bit ago when they turned off the car. George’s staggered breathing was the only sound now. His face was flushed a deep shade of red and his dark eyes were wet at the corners, darting across Dream’s features.

“Yeah.”

“No you’re not.”

“Yeah, I’m not.”

Dream sat up now, finally letting go of George. He moved slowly, popping open the door on the driver’s side. He was glad they’d crashed in a field. It could’ve been a lot worse. They could’ve hit another car… or a tree… or water… Dream shook the thought out of his head and leaned back inside to look at the brunet, who was still frozen in the passenger seat.

“Come on out. Let’s get you some fresh air.”

George stepped out of the car and noted how much warmer the air was. Hot and sticky, it clung to his skin and clothing like static. “Are we still in Indiana?”

“We crossed into Kentucky like five minutes ago, I think.” Dream looked around for anywhere to sit before turning to climb onto the hood of the car. He patted the empty spot beside him, brushing off the long grass that laid there. As George plopped down, the blond began to pluck stands of green and gold from the hood and the windshield and the front of the vehicle.

“Okay, that’s good, right?” George leaned back onto the windshield and looked up at the long tree in front of them. It soared to the heavens, even with a car stuck at its base.

“How are we gonna get out of this?”

“Well, there’s not anyone we can call.” Dream pulled a piece of grass from George’s dark locks before laying beside him, letting their arms and legs brush against each other. He listened to the other boy’s breathing for a while. He waited for it to even out from its sporadic rhythm and watched his chest rise and fall. He listened to everything around him as well. Animals in the dark wood which wasn’t far away, cars speeding past, his own breathing. He wasn’t in a hurry to leave, although he probably should have been.

It wasn’t like Dream’s mind wasn’t racing with possibilities. The cops could see them and haul their asses back to L’Manberg and there would be nothing they could do about it. They wouldn’t be able to pay for car repairs if they needed them. Someone could call 911 and they could end up in the hospital. That would almost be worse. He didn’t mention any of it to his friend though. Didn’t want to worry him any more. Instead, he said, “Do you wanna talk about it?”

George understood what he was referencing immediately. He shook his head and stared up at the sky.

“Do you wanna talk about something else?”

“I think we should figure out how to get out of here.”

“Good point.” It was a distraction and Dream knew it, but if it made George feel better than it was okay. He sat up and looked over the front of the car, sliding down the hood and crouching to look at the front where it had bumped the tree. There was nothing but a scratch.

“Is it alright?” the British boy asked, leaning forward to look for himself.

“Yeah. We should try to get it out of here before the cops show up.”

“The cops?”

“Yeah, they could fuck us up so bad.” George nodded and jumped off the hood with a sudden urgency. 

“What do you think we should do first?” Dream turned back to him with those shining golden eyes. He stood and dusted off his pants, looking at the car with a frown.

“Can we get it out of here?”

“Doesn’t hurt to try. Here, you get in the driver’s seat and try to back out for me.” It was an easy command, but it took George a moment to process it. _For me_. He hated the way it sent a shiver down his spine.

The brunet slid into the driver’s seat with no trouble, starting the car with the keys that were still in the ignition. It sputtered a bit, but the lights flickered on and the music started again. It didn’t really feel appropriate for the moment so George turned it off. He looked out to Dream, who had two hands placed against the front of the car as if he were about to push it. “Okay, George, back out _slowly_!” he shouted through the glass windows. 

George simply nodded, putting the car in reverse. He lightly pressed against the gas, but it didn’t seem to be working. “Huh?” He pressed it a bit harder, but the wheels just spun beneath him. They were stuck on something. 

“Stop!” Dream yelled and he did as he was told, killing the engine and taking out the keys. 

“What’s happening?” He jumped out of the car and walked over to Dream.

“Wheels are stuck in the grass. It’s, like, too slippery. They can’t get a grab on it.”

“That’s not good.”

Dream scoffed, a little smile crossing his lips. “True.”

“Think we can push it out?”

“We gotta try.” Dream wordlessly slid over so George could stand beside him, putting his hands back on the front and pushing slightly. 

“Wait wait wait. Let me go turn it on. Take it out of park.” George slid the keys back in and started the car, leaving the door open when he re-joined Dream before helping him push.

The car moved a couple feet backward before they stopped, wheels slowly turning across crushed grass. It was way heavier than it looked and sweat dripped between Dream’s eyes. He wanted to peel off his hoodie and they hadn’t even moved the car anywhere yet. George groaned beside him and he turned to see the boy, cheeks flushed a deep pink, struggling to move the vehicle. 

“We can take a little break if you want.”

“No, it’s fine. We need to get out of here.” George stared straight ahead.

“We- we have the time. We aren’t exactly in a rush here.” 

George’s shoulders slumped and he leaned over the hood of the car, wiping sweat from his forehead. “It’s so fucking hot out.”

Dream sat back on the hood, pulling up the hoodie to rub across his face. It lifted above his stomach and George couldn’t help but stare. Yes he had muscles… a lot of them… but for every ab line, he had twice as many scars. They traced his ribs and outlined his hips and a few dragged around to his back where the brunet couldn’t see them. His eyes widened at the sight and he couldn’t look away. This was his second time seeing Dream’s chest in the last 24 hours but that didn’t mean it wasn’t any less stunning.

“I can feel you staring.”

“I’m not.”

Dream’s eyes peeked over the fabric, eying George. “Yeah, right.”

The short boy rolled his eyes but he had definitely been caught. He needed to stop doing that. He pulled himself up to sit beside Dream, willing the heat in his face to go away.

“So,” the blond started, “what’s on your mind? Besides the obvious.” He smirked with that cocky tone of his and George resisted the urge to pin him against the car hood. The second the thought of doing exactly that passed through his mind, he felt nauseous. 

“Nothing much.” A few cars drove past. Leaves rustled in the breeze. George swallowed. “What are your thoughts on love?” To be completely honest, it was the first cohesive and 100% straight thought that had popped into his head and so he blurted it out.

Dream briefly wondered if he was joking. George had never mentioned love before in any context. He’d never even said “I love you too” when they were kids. Besides a couple rumored hook-ups, Dream didn’t think his friend had ever even dated anyone. The expression on his face confirmed that he was serious though, so Dream answered with a serious reply. “I’m not really sure. It’s nice, I suppose. Why do you ask?”

“It’s dumb.” Pause. “I’m just wondering what it feels like.”

Dream was at a loss for words momentarily. The rest of the world faded away until there was nothing but him and George and he could suddenly feel how close they were. Maybe he wanted to pull back. Maybe he wanted to get closer. He didn’t know. “Well,” he closed his eyes to think, “you already know some kind of love, right? You loved your friends.” He wanted to crack a joke about an old crush lost to the sands of time, but it didn’t feel appropriate now.

“I’m thinking of the other kind of love.” Both knew what he meant. Neither had an answer for what it felt like. To love someone, or to be loved.

“I guess I want to know what that feels like too.”

The wind rustled both of them slightly, tossing their hair and George’s loose shorts. He wanted to sit up and get back in the car and try getting it moving again, but the discussion had been clawing its way to the front of his mind for a long time and it was too late to put it back in the cage from which it came.

“What do you plan to do in Florida?” He decided to switch the conversation.

“Go to college, meet new people, have fun I guess.”

“Is that really what you want?” He turned to stare directly at Dream now, noticing immediately that he had already been looking at him. They met eye-to-eye for one electrifying moment, brown drowning in green.

“Huh,” Dream pondered for a moment, “I’ve never really thought about that, but I guess the answer is yes.”

George wasn’t letting up that easily. He inched a bit closer, eyes taking in every little detail of Dream’s face open and unabashedly now. “Couldn’t you get all of that stuff in L’Manberg too? There must be something else you’re going so far away for.”

This felt ridiculous, but if it helped George to escape whatever was chasing him through sleep, Dream was willing to tell the truth. He watched how the older boy’s eyes took him in and it was like he was something beautiful. Something worth staring at. “I suppose I’m looking for a way out too. You can’t get that just anywhere.”

George nodded.

“What do you want? In life, I mean,” Dream asked.

“Love.” He answered so quickly that it sounded rehearsed, voice hushed to a near whisper. George had gotten closer to the other boy and hadn’t even noticed. “And happiness and success,” he added as an afterthought. “I want to go somewhere where no one knows my name with someone who cares enough to love me, and go on to do something great.”

“And have you found that someone?”

“I’m not sure yet.”

“How wonderfully vague.”

“What do you want? After college?”

Dream thought about it for a moment. “You know what? I honestly don’t know. I’ve been thinking about it for such a long time that I’ve never thought _past_ it. All these escape routes and I’ve never thought about where I’m escaping too.” He resisted the urge to pull back and end the whole conversation right then and there, but instead turned to look at the clouds. George did the same. The eye contact had burned him and he needed time to heal.

“I’m the same way. I’ve wanted to go for a while but I still don’t know where. It’s like, I’ve been alone my whole life and now I just want to go places and meet people, but at the same time I don’t want to change the person I am now,” George slowly lifted a hand to the sky as if to reach out and grab one of the clouds. Dream reached up and grabbed it first. The connection was so strong that it practically shook the air around them.

“If I were you, I’d wait until I’m ready.”

Neither looked at the other just yet, but their fingers stayed laced together. A shock of electricity seemed to run between them, pulling like a magnet but repellin at the same time. Nothing about it made sense, but it felt right.

“We should try the car again.”

“In a minute. We’re in no rush.”

The boys held hands for just a moment longer, staring at the same clouds in the same sky but seeing completely different things.

Eventually, they had to let go and pretend as if nothing had happened. The pair slid off the hood and George got in the car and tried the gas while Dream pushed from the back. They managed to turn the car around until it was facing the road again, all without words at all.

Dream opened the driver’s door. “It should be easy to get to the road from here. Just straight up the hill and-”

“I can drive,” George smiled. “Just get some sleep.”

Dream stared at him, completely dumb-founded for a moment. He slid into the backseat and closed the door, wondering how long he’d been sober.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> dnf authors x glass animals songs is the best mcyt ship tbh
> 
> anyways thanks again for all the love y'all are insane and i love you all so so so much <3 this chapter is a reward for being cool and awesome and stuff and that's why i added so much ~tension~ hehehe
> 
> i dunno when next chapter will be but this was definitely a longer one! we're almost at 20k words already wow... we're only at like the halfway point too... this is already longer than my whole first draft combined.
> 
> also i already have another idea for a fic that won't be nearly as angsty as this one but somehow more chaotic. basic elevator pitch: it's summer and the whole of dream smp makes up the staff at this amusement park (that's probably gonna end up being named either SMP or El Rapids or some reference to the smp hehe) and it's kinda like The Office in terms of story progression being limited until we get invested in the characters :) this all started because i wanted to write a dnf workplace au and then thought about them working at an amusement park for the summer and then it all spiraled from there... it might possibly be in the works after im done with this big boy who knows!


	11. chapter eleven. innocence.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> breathe out and breathe in  
> we'll be forgiven  
> together, we wait for space  
> together, we wait for silence  
> and under your breath you spoke of innocence

5:10 PM.

Nearly an hour was blown to the breeze now and fifteen minutes later, George was comfortably driving with Dream asleep in the backseat. They hadn’t spoken since they got the car back on the road. There were a lot of things that had never been said aloud because they’d never needed words.

The blond-haired boy looked so much younger when he was asleep, one arm sprawled among the boxes on the floor and the other tucked over his slender stomach. He looked happier than when he was awake as well, but that didn’t take much. For a theatre kid, he’d never been a good actor.

George’s mind was asking him for any idea on what to do next, but he honestly didn’t have an answer. He’d never spoken about a lot of things before that day and, while part of him was glad that he was free, there was another part that wanted to take it all back. Both parts were yelling at him to do something, _anything_ , to address what he’d said but he didn’t. He leaned back in his chair slightly, stuck one hand out the window, and relaxed. It felt nice to do so.

Half-an-hour later, Dream woke in a fit of restlessness and rolled over to face his friend, meeting his eyes in the rearview mirror. He had a sleepy smile on his face.

“Go back to sleep. We’ve got a long way to go and you’re still so sleep-deprived it’s not even funny,” George said and the boy stared at the ceiling with no intention of listening.

“Sleeping in cars is fucking impossible. How do you do it?”

“I don’t know, I just read or something until I get so tired that I can’t stay awake anymore.”

“Okay.” Dream leaned over and snatched the copy of _Harry Potter_ off the passenger seat. It was even lighter than he’d thought it would be. He flipped through the pages absent-mindedly, noting the many, many missing ones. The entire middle section was just cut out. The first few chapters and the ending were the sole remainders of what once was a lengthy novel.

He said nothing of the absence and started reading the ending section instead. George said nothing either, focusing on the music he was playing through the speakers. It seemed as if now, when he wasn’t sitting in the passenger seat anymore, the blown out speaker was working fine. Just his luck.

It didn’t take long until Dream was snoring softly and George was alone once again. Even when he wasn’t saying anything, it was nice to be in the presence of the other boy. George thought back to some of their old adventures, things he wouldn’t normally remember, and smiled. It was the first time he’d thought happily of a memory in a very long time.

As much as the solitude suited him, George missed having other people around. He thought over the idea that by the next day, Dream would be gone for good and found that his brief happiness was short-lived. He wondered if Dream would notice if he turned the car and drove in the opposite direction of Florida. 

“Absolutely not,” he muttered to himself. He still considered it. To get his mind off of the ridiculous idea, he turned the music slightly louder and hummed along. Every couple minutes, George checked on Dream in the rearview mirror. 

As dinner time approached, traffic started to get worse and he found himself getting caught between big trucks and slowing down more than once. George had more time to look at his friend and so he took advantage of it.

There was a scar on Dream’s nose. It hadn’t been there for long, it was bright and obviously new, but it was also covered by makeup or marker or something that was doing a very poor job. There was another spot on his chin and a line near his forehead that was older, but George noticed it for the first time. The blond teen always had his hair covering the spot, and for good reason as well. It seemed like his head would split open if it were hit in the same place again.

His eyes trailed away from the scars though, focusing on Dream’s other features instead. His dark eyes glanced over full lips, the bumped bridge of his otherwise-straight nose, and his long, dark eyelashes. George let himself wonder what it would feel like to touch him. To run his fingers over those lips or hold his defined jaw in his hands. When his gaze drifted down to Dream’s scars again, he quickly turned away.

It felt as if he’d seen something private so he watched the road once again as traffic picked back up and he went down a hill. George was left with unanswered questions that he never planned to ask aloud. He figured he could gather an answer rather easily, even if it wasn’t the nicest thought.

“Hey, what time is it?”

“5:40. Why?”

Dream just groaned in response and dropped the book that was sitting on his lap to the floor when he sat up. “That’s about as much sleep as I’m gonna get.” He climbed over the seats, narrowly avoiding bumping his friend several times, and moved next to George, buckling his seatbelt and yawning. He rubbed the dark circles under his eyes but they didn’t go away.

His hand flopped onto the center console beside George’s and when he noticed the other boy was still watching him instead of the road, he gave a small smile. 

“Relax man, I’m not going anywhere.”

George frowned, turning back to the road silently. After a moment, he finally thought of a response. “It’s not where you’re going, it’s where you’ve been.”

Without a word between the two, Dream knew immediately what he meant. He pulled his hand back, shifting to look in the side mirror of the car and pushing his blond hair back in place. He could see what George was looking at. It was something few had seen before.

When his warm arm returned beside George’s on the console, the other boy instinctively grabbed at it. His movement was slow, but he didn’t back off or second-guess it. It just happened. Dream didn’t stop him either. He let it.

Sometimes that was just how things were meant to happen. Spontaneously and without stopping.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ayo i'm back! this chapter is a bit short but i've been working non-stop on both ideas for this fic and concepts for the amusement park au i mentioned before so there's a lot more to come :)
> 
> also decided i'm gonna take the longer route with this story so that's gonna be interesting! i have a future chapter that i added to my first draft and it's... very good... very interesting... i won't spoil anything but you'll definitely know it when you get to it hehehe
> 
> i'm considering double-updating again tonight since it's the weekend... hmmmmm... maybe...
> 
> anyways the usual come say hi on [twitter](https://twitter.com/egirIpatches) and follow the [playlist](https://open.spotify.com/playlist/5fM4R4qIUtTJOJuospUDGm?si=YTocUWg9Sci2HFdnq3sXtQ) okay that's all i love you all and you're very pog okay goodnight!! <3 <3 <3


	12. chapter twelve. make you mine.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> in the night, we'll take a walk  
> it's nothing funny, just to talk.

7:20 PM.

Nashville, Tennessee. Home of country music, Johnny Cash, and now two teenagers who arrived just in time for a late dinner.

“So, where are we thinking for dinner? We’ve got the whole city in front of us so just pick anywhere you want, as long as we’ve got the money for it.” Dream cruised through a side road of the city at a low speed, windows down and eyes scanning the crowded streets. They’d changed drivers the second they hit the town because George didn’t feel like dealing with traffic lights and Dream was okay with switching.

“I’m not sure. What do you want?” George found himself back in the passenger seat but without a system full of drugs this time. He had had enough for one day. 

The shorter boy was snapping pictures of everything he could see now from brightly-colored signs to cowboy hat-wearing tourists. Click. Click. Click.

“Let’s just go somewhere nice. Like some kind of fancy date,” Dream paused at his word choice, eyes flashing between George and the road for a moment, but didn’t take it back. The dark-eyed boy beside him grinned and he let out a breath he didn’t realize he was holding.

“Some fancy date it is then.”

The car passed a small diner with a dark interior lit by a couple neon signs and Dream spun into the parking lot with one hand on the wheel, sliding the black vehicle haphazardly into a spot. He didn’t even notice that it was actually between two or three spots until George pointed it out.

“Shit.” He backed out the car a bit too quickly and veered back into the spot with more concentration that time. “Is that better?”

“Probably.” George shrugged and got out of the car, letting go of Dream’s hand for the first time in a few hours. He didn’t like the cold that interlocked with his fingers instead.

The two walked into the diner and were immediately greeted with a dark room full of loud music, loud people, and loud noises.

“Table for two, please,” Dream said to the waitress, who led them to the back corner. There was one empty booth in the whole place and she gave it to the pair.

The teens sat across from each other, sliding into the seats gingerly.

“My legs are dying,” George groaned as he kicked his feet up on the bench across from him and Dream did the same. “We shouldn’t have done this all in one day.”

“I never said we had to! That was entirely your interpretation. And, you weren’t even the person driving most of the time!”

“Sleeping is hard too.” George cracked up as the waitress returned to get their drink orders. 

“What would y’all like to drink?”

“The most caffeinated thing you have.”

“And a lemonade!”

The waitress left them alone once again and George pulled out his phone to check the time. It was 7:30 now, meaning that they would arrive in Orlando in 10 hours. It would be nearly 6 AM on arrival if they didn’t stop any more. 

“You’ll be getting in pretty early. Are you sure you’ll even be able to get into the dorms?” He spun the phone around so Dream could see his calculations. The blond scrunched his eyebrows and frowned. Spending another 10 hours in the car didn’t sound particularly fun.

“Yeah, I think so. I told them some bullshit about how I was an exchange student and had nowhere else to go and they said they would leave my key at the front desk inside. It was the only way I could get in during summer, but I think it’ll work. Why?”

“Just curious.” George now had his phone in camera mode once again, trying to get a picture of the neon signs in the restaurant. He turned the lens on the rest of the place and snapped a few of the bar, the windows, and the light outside.

“You’re really good at photography, you know? Have you ever thought about going to college for that kind of stuff?” 

“It’s too late for that now.” George edited the photos absent-mindedly while Dream thought of the boxes in the backseat of the car. He said nothing.

“Hey, look out the window for a second.” The camera was turned on the green-eyed boy who obliged immediately, listening for the soft clicks over the top of all the other noise. Sure enough, multiple photos were taken from the angle. A few more were snapped of him looking into the neon lights, then a few more of just his eyes. Dream forgot about his scars for a moment. He forgot about his bruised nose too.

“Perfect.” 

“I became your model and I don’t even get a ‘thank you’?” Dream joked as their sodas were set on the table. 

George took a sip of his lemonade with a smile. “Thanks, loser.”

“Are we ready to order here?”

“Yes.” Dream flashed the woman a smile and George felt his cheeks flush but he refused to figure out why.

An hour later and the two had finished eating, wandering around the city of music and lights with no real goal in mind. The sidewalks were plenty wide but their shoulders still brushed against each other as they walked.

“You do realize we only have 10 hours left to go, right? We’re way over halfway now,” George commented as their feet moved in sync down the smooth paths.

“Yeah,” Dream said it without enthusiasm. He should be excited to finally be in college, away from them, and finally free but at the moment he felt nothing but a pang in his chest. He didn’t want this to end. “As weird as it sounds, this has been really fun.”

“I get what you mean. It’s like, I didn’t really wake up at 4 in the morning expecting to have a good time with an old friend but here we are and it’s getting close to being over and that fucking sucks.” The curse passed his lips and Dream turned to look at him with a little smile.

“I think that’s the most you’ve said all day.” George elbowed the taller boy and the two finally made their way back to the car. The spark of electricity from earlier continued to course its way through both of them, but it didn’t burn in a bad way.

“Alright Dream, let’s do this.” George sunk into the driver’s seat and started the engine.

“Let’s get to Orlando.” Their fingers linked and the black car pulled out of the parking lot.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hi okay it's 1:24 AM so short author's note today but how are you guys doing? got any predictions for the story? i literally love comments so much so even just saying hi makes me so so so happy hehehe :)
> 
> okay i'm gonna pass tf out now next chapter will be pretty soon i think !!!


	13. chapter thirteen. something comforting.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> someone tell me something comforting.

8:30 PM.

The sun setting over I-24 was one of the most stunning things Dream had ever seen. He wasn’t sure where they were or what was going to happen next, but in that moment all he noticed was the glowing yellow reflecting in the water that surrounded either side of the road.

George felt it too, the heat and the overwhelming calmness that had washed over the vehicle and the two boys inside. It could’ve been the clear sky, or the lakes, or the soft music that hummed from the speakers, but something about that moment was different in the best way possible. It didn’t feel quite real. Too good to be true. He didn’t want to ruin it by mentioning it to Dream.

“This was what you were talking about earlier, isn’t it.” It wasn’t a question in the slightest, instead, Dream just observed what was happening around them.

“Exactly.” George’s friend lazily leaned over to the side, resting his head on the boy’s fabric-covered shoulder, but his eyes stayed trained on the sky.

“I think this is the first time something nice has ever happened to me without any repercussions.”

George smiled but it held a tinge of sadness. He completely understood. “Me too.”

“I wonder if Florida is going to be like this?”

“Don’t tell me you’re wanting to turn around now. It’s a little too late for that.”

“No no no, it’s not that. It’s just…” The music swallowed his lack of words. “I’m just hoping it lives up to everything I’ve been dreaming it will be.”

“I’m sure it will.”

“Nah, I don’t know anymore. This, this sunset and this music and- and this! This right here is what I’ve been thinking it would be. You know, quiet and nice and i’m having the time of my life and no one’s judging me or trying to stop me or anything.” he stopped, letting out a sigh that he’d been holding for quite a while before continuing. “And the best part is that I can say shit like this and no one will judge me or think I’m being weird or wonder where the _real_ Dream is because he’s right here, he’s just not what everyone thinks he is.” The boy’s words picked up in pace as he started rambling but George didn’t mention it. Every word made more and more sense. It was an explanation he was never expecting to a question he hadn’t asked. “So, I’m just hoping Orlando will be the same way, I guess.”

George thought for a moment, soaking in every word. “What if you didn’t go? What if we never left this car and just went somewhere else? I mean, you have your stuff in here and so do I. We could go to some beach town and sleep in the backseat until we get jobs and make enough money to buy one of those beach villas. Oh, and we could finally get rich enough to live out those dreams of being streamers! You know, the ones where we had a YouTube channel and stuff? We could do that!” 

George’s shoulders shook with laughter, but Dream didn’t move. His green eyes glazed over with the reflection of the sunset. “That’s not that bad of an idea.”

His laughter stopped. George turned to his friend and removed the hand that was intertwined with the other boy’s. He needed something to shake the boy out of his haze and so reached forward and ruffled blond hair between his fingers with a smile. “I was joking, Dream.”

Dream knew his scars were on full display but didn’t move his hair back. “I know, I just wish I could. I wish I didn’t pay a ridiculous amount of money to go to a college that I don’t even know if I’m going to like.”

“You’re going to like it, I promise.”

“How do you know that?” Dream’s voice held a wobbly note of worry and he wasn’t smiling anymore. His eyes flickered away from the sun and over to George’s face, moving a bit closer until George could practically count the number of freckles on his cheeks.

“You’re good at making friends, being around people. You’ll find people you like. You might even find that love you want so badly.”

“Maybe we’ll both find it.”

“Maybe.” George’s hand hovered over the radio, wanting to change the song to an upbeat one or even just to turn it louder, but he didn’t. He’d had enough drowning out his thoughts for the day. 

“Keep this on,” Dream muttered and his eyes flickered closed.

“Okay.” The quiet, sad music remained and with that, Dream leaned over and buried his face in the other teen’s shoulder, quietly falling asleep. George was left alone, wondering what he truly wanted in the world. He hoped he’d find it sometime soon. He wanted love, that was for sure, but he thought that might have to wait a while.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i have determined that i will be making chapter descriptions entirely out of song lyrics from now on lowkey kinda a banger idea heheheh (also probably gonna go back to previous chapters and change those too askjdfhjadjsf)
> 
> anyway, i'm back at it again with updating during streams this time i'm watching the karl + dteam + bbh + ranboo jackbox stream and speed-editing this chapter at the same time so forgive grammatical errors plz
> 
> that's it for now gonna go write another chapter or something literally writing this gives me So Much serotonin i cant fucking stop :)


	14. chapter fourteen. vanilla twilight.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> the stars lean down to kiss you

10:40 PM.

Dream woke to find that he was laid in the backseat amongst all of the boxes. George was still driving with a tired look on his worn face and he had slept way longer than he planned to.

“Good morning, sleepyhead.”

A quick look at the clock made Dream laugh. “It’s 10:40 at night, you idiot.” That made the other boy crack a smile too.

“Yeah, and we’re going to have to stop and get gas soon.”

“Oh great, we’ll be even later than we already are.”

“We both know you don’t really care,” George said as he pulled the car over and found a gas station.

Getting out and being greeted with the hot and humid air of some little town was a shock to both boys as they climbed out to swap seats before they would eventually return to driving. Dream rubbed the sleep out of his eyes and smiled. “We’re almost there anyway, aren’t we?”

“Crossed into Georgia about an hour ago.” George leaned against the car and watched the gas numbers skyrocket. Dream slid beside him. He watched the older boy yawn.

“What if we take a break from driving? Get a hotel room or something for the night.”

George looked at him with curious dark eyes. “You’re not serious, right?”

Dream pulled out his phone to look up nearby hotels before remembering his location services were all turned off. He frowned. “It would be a nice break. And we wouldn’t be tired anymore.” He didn’t mention that it meant they’d get to spend a bit more time together.

“Dream, I don’t know if we have enough money for that.”

“I’m sure we do. I’ll pull some from my bank account if I need to.”

“You’re not going to pay for the whole thing. I won’t allow it.”

“Watch me.” 

The gas tank filled and George groaned when Dream lunged forward to pay for it. His wallet had to be empty by now and the British boy knew it. There was no way they could get a hotel room either. Wishful thinking at its finest. Sleep deprivation-fueled fantasies.

When he sat in the passenger seat, Dream was already typing something into his phone. “Turned location back on. They wouldn’t be looking for me right now anyway.” 

“You- what?!?” George leaned over and watched Dream type in a hotel search, wanting to reach out and stop him but doing nothing. 

“Look at that! There’s a little motel two miles from here! And it says it's open 24/7 so we should be able to walk right in. Looks like we’re getting good sleep tonight, Georgie!” He whooped and plugged his phone into the aux cord, setting the GPS location to the motel and pulling out of the gas station before George could say a word.

Once they were back on the highway, he finally said “ _Georgie_? Where did that come from?”

“You have to admit, it’s cute,” Dream snickered as he reached his hand across the console and grabbed the other boy’s much smaller one. “Plus it made you blush.”

“No it didn’t! How can you even tell? It’s dark in here.”

Dream laughed. “I can hear it in your voice.”

“Oh fuck you Dream.” He didn’t mean it. He was blushing again.

“You can do that when we get to the motel.”

“I-” George didn’t have a response to that one and it made the blond dissolve into wheezing laughter in the driver’s seat, keeling over in a fit of giggles. 

“I hate you. I really do.”

“No you don’t, Georgie.”

They pulled into the parking lot of a run-down looking little motel with a vacancy sign that was near falling off. Perfect for a one-night stay in a town they never planned to return to.

The lot had about four other cars in it and most were parked near the front desk area. Dream hadn’t noticed the place had a pool on the website, but now he could see it shimmering behind the building in a beautiful cyan light.

He turned off the car and stepped out into the hot air once more, watching as George followed. “You didn’t tell me this place had a pool!”

“I didn’t know.”

George looked off at the blue light for a moment. “Can- can we go in it before we go to bed? I’m not too tired right now and it would feel good on our legs.”

“You’ve already seen me shirtless twice George, do you really want a third time that badly?” George wasn’t sure what he did to get Dream acting like this but he didn’t really mind, even if it was all a joke. It _was_ just friendly banter between friends, right? Friends did this all the time.

The two walked into the front lobby to find an annoyed woman sitting behind an old counter with dirt between its yellowing tiles. She looked half-asleep and about ready to murder them. “What do you want?”

Dream and George looked at each other and George briefly debated running out to the car and leaving. They could find another hotel. Or they could continue their original plan and drive through the night. Taking turns wasn’t too bad… 

“Um, we’d like a room. For one night. Uh- tonight,” he managed to get out, leaning closer to Dream.

“One bed or two?”

“One is fine,” Dream blurted before George could say anything. They were practically standing shoulder-to-shoulder now so he leaned down to whisper in the shorter boy’s ear, pressing a steadying hand to his shoulder. “It’s cheaper that way. Hope you don’t mind.”

“It’s fine.” He swallowed. Normal friend behavior, right?

“Okay, that’ll be $50.”

_Fifty bucks?_ For this dump? George reached in his pocket for his wallet but Dream was already sliding his card across the counter. “No no no, I can pay.”

The hand on his shoulder tightened. “I got it.”

George just nodded, knowing there was no way of getting out of this. He blanked out the rest of the conversation between Dream and the woman and focused on the idea of sharing a bed with Dream. It was definitely a lot to think about. There was also the matter of the pool. It _did_ sound nice to go for a swim right now, but he didn’t exactly bring a pair of trunks. 

His mind seemed to move a million miles a minute as Dream finished signing the paperwork and guided him out the door and back to the car. He popped open the back doors and pulled out some clothing items. A t-shirt, jeans, boxers, and socks for the next day. 

George finally opened his own box of clothes. There weren’t exactly many that were meant for the warm climate of the south, but he dug through them anyway. Some didn’t fit too well either, but it was all he had. Snagging a pair of sweatpants, a t-shirt, and clean underwear, he closed the door and followed Dream down the dimly lit path to their room.

“Here it is.” He put the key in the lock of room 120, opening the door and flicking on the lights.

To be honest, George was expecting worse. He’d seen enough episodes of _Another Dirty Room_ to know that most motels were dirty shitholes with roaches in the walls and mold in the bathroom, but this one didn’t seem too bad. He sat on the bed and set his clothes on the dresser, the only other furniture item that decorated the little room. 

There were two doors to the place, one that led to the bathroom and the other that led out the back to the pool. He could see it clearly now. It was just a regular rectangle, but there were lights beneath the moving water that made it cast weird reflections into the sky and on the walls of the building. George wanted to go dive in.

It seemed like Dream was having the same idea because the taller boy set his clothes on the bed, looked outside, and turned to George to ask “You still up for that swim?”

“Well I don’t have a bathing suit or anything…”

“That’s fine. You don’t need one.” Dream pulled the hoodie over his head and George’s eyes darted to the floor. Suddenly the worn carpet was the most interesting thing in the world. “I’ll meet you out there.” He heard Dream’s footsteps, then the back door sliding open and closed, before letting out a sigh. He was in a bit deeper than he thought.

All those dumb emotions he’d had in middle school were back and worse than ever and George wanted nothing more than to kill them once and for all. He couldn’t have a crush on his childhood friend, not to mention that that friend was a _boy_. He thought he’d moved past this in eighth grade.

“Fuck,” he muttered to himself as he peeled off Dream’s hoodie and loose shorts and tossed them on the bed. There was no air conditioning in the place, so George didn’t miss them too much. 

He looked himself up and down, debating on whether or not he wanted Dream to see him like this. One part of his brain screamed an obvious “yes!” but the other wondered what the younger boy would think. If he would say anything. If he would like what he saw. 

George sucked in a breath before moving toward the door and sliding it open slightly. Dream was already in the pool and he could see his blond head poking above the surface from where he stood.

_Do I go out? Well, I can’t leave Dream waiting, that would be rude. But he would understand if I just said I was tired, right?_ God, what George would do for a smoke right now.

Eventually, he stepped onto the concrete outside the room and closed the door behind himself. There was no going back now. His bare feet padded across the ground, sound echoing off the walls of the long building behind him, until he was beside Dream.

The blond was staring up at him with those golden eyes. They reflected the deep blues of the pool and the water shimmered on his face. His pupils were wide and his mouth curved into a little ‘o’. His cheeks flushed with color and it blurred the array of freckles that coated them. “Hi.”

“Hi.” George felt even more self-conscious than before. He wanted to get into the water as fast as possible. Wanted Dream to stop staring at him like _that_. It was almost like he was pretty. He wanted to curl up in a ball and die.

Instead, the British boy slid into the cool water of the pool until he was floating beside Dream with his back pressed against the wall. He was right about it feeling good. The heat of the air couldn’t touch him here and his legs instantly felt better than they had the whole road trip. Sleeping in a car might have destroyed his muscles but it felt like swimming could heal them.

After a moment of silence, he turned back to Dream. The blond was still speechless, drinking in every inch of his pale skin from the points of his collarbones to the v-line that dipped beneath the waistline of his boxers. He wasn’t even trying to hide it although George wondered if this was just payback for _his_ staring earlier. If so, Dream definitely got his point across.

When he was finally done, the younger boy looked up at the sky. He could see the stars bright and clear, poking holes in the dark sky. They couldn’t compare to George. Not even slightly. But it was better to look at them than his friend.

“It’s finally starting to feel real that I’m going to be living around here for the next couple years,” he finally spoke and his throat felt dry. His voice sounded a bit funny and he coughed to clear it. “I don’t like how hot it is. And the humidity is going to _suck_.”

“Your poor hair is going to be ruined, pretty boy.” Two could play the flirting game.

“ _Pretty Boy_?” Dream looked out and over the water of the pool with a little smile across his lips. “I like it.”

When George said nothing in return, he spoke again. “How’s being sober going?”

“Not nearly as bad as it was the first time. I think I was ready for it.” George shrugged as he slowly dragged his leg through the water in front of him, refusing to look at Dream again. If he started staring, he wouldn’t be able to stop. “I’m finally feeling the lack of sleep and I don’t think my body is used to it, but I’ll be fine once we get some real rest tonight. Good as new in the morning.”

“Thank you.” Dream’s voice held sincerity as he looked over at George, taking in how the blue lights looked on his jawline and hair and eyes and skin. “I’m serious. You didn’t have to do any of this.”

“I didn’t have anything better to do.” Dream frowned and the dark-haired boy finally turned to face him directly. “Aw come on, you know I’d do anything for you. Or any of the other guys.” The ending bit was tacked on in a hurry.

“Really?”

“Yes, really. I think I’m forever in debt to the people who kept me away from crippling loneliness as a child,” George said quietly.

“Too bad we stopped when we got to high school.”

“Yeah.” George thought of the boxes in the back. He pulled his legs up to his chest, causing ripples across the water, but his eyes remained on Dream. “It never should’ve ended, but sometimes that’s just how it goes. Believe me, if I could go back and change things so I never lost you, I would a million times over.”

Dream hummed in reply because, in all honesty, he didn’t know what to say. George kept finding new ways to render him speechless.

“I think we all would. And we all tried. Can’t believe we’re all fucking failures.”

“Sometimes that’s just how things turn out,” Dream parroted back a near-copy of his friend’s words, but the boy wasn’t in the mood for jokes. He stared into his eyes with a blank gaze now, his eyes welling with shimmery tears. This was the thing he feared most about sobriety.

“Are you okay?”

“To answer your question about being sober, it sucks.” George’s eyes narrowed and he could feel his lip quivering.

“Yeah, makes sense.” Dream shifted a bit closer until George had nowhere to look but his eyes. Emerald met chocolate and got lost in the darkness for a moment.

“It’s just…” The boy’s eyes squinted shut and a hot tear rolled down his cheek. “Feeling things is okay until you’re reminded of what you tried to forget, you know?”

“I suppose.” Dream didn’t really get it. He was never one for any kind of drugs, so he didn’t know the feeling of not feeling. He kind of wished he did though. There were a lot of things he’d like to forget. “Hey, do you want to go to bed now?”

“Yeah, that sounds nice.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i literally just can't stop updating hhhhhh
> 
> also song title lyrics don't really fit too well but the vibes fit ~very well~
> 
> anyways hope yall like this one :) made it Extra Chaotic on purpose :)


	15. chapter fifteen. hot sugar.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> i wish that we could be real too.

11:30 PM.

Dream wiped away George’s tears before helping the older boy out of the pool. The two walked side-by-side back to the motel room where George locked himself in the bathroom and Dream changed into a dry pair of boxers. He couldn’t be bothered to pull on clothes, especially with how hot the room was, and so he climbed into the bed and pushed the comforter onto the floor, leaving only the sheets and pillows. He waited for George, who emerged from the bathroom shortly after in similar attire. The shorter boy was a silhouette against the harsh fluorescent lights of the bathroom before he turned them off.

The blond couldn’t help but admit that George was stunning. It was just an obvious fact. From his smooth skin to his dark hair to his gorgeous eyes, Dream had decided that his friend was one of the most beautiful people to ever walk the Earth. Anyone who tried to prove otherwise would simply be deemed incorrect.

George flicked off the lights and climbed into the bed beside him. Dream would never admit it to his friend, but he picked the one-bed option over the two-bed for more reasons than just the price. Part of him wanted to take full advantage of the open space and finally confront the smaller boy about the obvious tension between them, but part of him wanted to leave it be and go to sleep instead.

It seemed like the British boy was just as conflicted because his uneven breathing betrayed the fact that he was still awake. Dream squinted in the dark to see his friend staring at the ceiling. He rolled onto his side to face him directly, resting his head against the cool pillow. It felt good against his burning skin.

“Dream?”

“Yeah?”

“I can’t sleep.”

“I can tell.” 

George finally turned his head, his dark hair falling into his face and in front of his eyes. He smiled a little in the dark and Dream smiled back. The blond reached up to move the other boy’s hair out of the way. He couldn’t get over how smooth George’s skin was. No scars. No freckles. Quite the opposite of his own. A fire flickered in his stomach and he briefly wondered if it was jealousy.

“Have we ever had a sleepover?”

“You know, in all our years of being friends, I don’t think we ever did.” Dream sifted through a dozen years of memories in a few seconds but came up empty. It wasn’t too hard to figure out why.

“Guess this is our first then,” George’s eyes softened with a smile. It would also be their last, but he didn’t need to say it.

“But to have a sleepover, you actually have to sleep.” 

They both chuckled a bit at that one. “True.”

George turned back onto his back and stared up at the ceiling, closing his eyes slowly. Dream’s eyes traced down his face from his fluffy hair to his full lips, wondering if George could feel his staring. He wasn’t sure if he wanted him to, but didn’t stop either way. “Goodnight Clay.” 

Dream sucked in a short breath, immediately stunned to silence. No one ever used his real name, not even teachers. The only people who ever called him that were… his parents… The name sounded good on his friend’s tongue though. It sent shivers down his spine.

“... goodnight George.”

He also stared at the ceiling with wide eyes, brain replaying the boy’s voice over and over. _Clay_. Okay, maybe he didn’t dislike the name as much as he thought. _Clay_. Yeah, he could get used to that.

Dream listened to George’s breathing, waiting for it to go steady before looking at him again. The shorter boy rolled over in his sleep, landing on his stomach much closer to Dream. It was a split-second decision, but the blond wrapped an arm around George lightly.

He leaned into the touch. His breath stayed even, he was still asleep, but his body scooted closer until he was pressed against Dream’s chest. Dream grinned and nestled his face in the boy’s hair before finally closing his eyes. George’s body was warm, but it was different from the hot and sticky heat of the air around them. It was a good warmth. Comforting.

-

The pair slept in until noon. It wasn’t even intentional, it was just that neither had set an alarm and both were so exhausted after the long day that they couldn’t bring themselves to get up any earlier. 

George was the first to wake up. His eyes squinted in the bright light filtering in from the glass doors and he felt an overwhelming, sweltering heat. He fully opened his dark eyes and took in the form in front of him. He was practically on top of Dream. He was _cuddling_ with Dream. His arm was wrapped around the blond’s waist and his head was on his bare chest and Dream’s face was in his hair. _Holy shit_. 

He had to go to the bathroom. He didn’t want to wake Dream, but he needed to move. George said a silent apology and started to sit up, carefully maneuvering under his friend’s arm. He didn’t get away easily though because Dream started to stir, popping open one eye.

“No come back…” he mumbled, voice coated with a sleepy crackle.

“I have to pee, Dream. Gimme a minute.”

The blond huffed. Both refused to acknowledge the fact that they’d been openly cuddling, or that Dream wanted to continue it. George just disappeared into the bathroom, closing the door with a light click.

Dream could’ve sat up. He could’ve got dressed and got ready and started the car and returned their room key, but he didn’t. He laid in the bed until George got back and climbed back in beside him and wordlessly placed his head back on his chest. He looked up at the taller boy. “Good morning, Dream.”

“Good morning, George. Actually, I think it’s afternoon now.” He leaned over to grab his phone, which he’d carelessly tossed on the floor the night before. Sure enough, it was 12:15 PM. “Oh shit. George, it’s 12:15.”

“And?”

“We should probably get going soon.”

“I thought we agreed to give up on your dumb schedule,” George grumbled, pressing his face into Dream’s chest. It was a weird feeling. Being so close to someone. In all of his years of being alive, the boy was certain he had never been held like this. Not by friends. Not by family. Not by anyone. He liked it a lot more than he expected, but he kept telling himself that he would like it no matter who was cuddling him. It didn’t matter that it was Dream. That had no effect on his opinion on the matter… right?

“True, we did, but we’re only seven and a half hours from Orlando. If we leave now, we’ll be there before nightfall. Doesn’t that sound nice, George?” He said it but he wasn’t getting up. He was clinging to the older boy like a lifeline. He was in a strange town in a sketchy hotel with a boy who, before the previous day, he thought was a bit terrifying, but this was probably the safest he had ever felt. Ever.

Dream didn’t know George well in high school. The brunet had kept to himself. He was never in any extracurriculars, never attended any events. They had had a few classes together, but Dream sat with his friends and George sat alone. Dream had always thought George was quite intimidating, even if he knew practically everything about him. He was mysterious back then and was mysterious now. It was something that made Dream feel drawn to him. He had always wanted to learn more.

Now that he had George in his arms, he decided he didn’t want much else. He didn’t want to ruin the moment or take things too far or fuck it up. He just wanted to stay in their safe, warm bundle of sheets and bodies forever and ever. They’d never have to worry about anything else ever again.

“Come on, Dream. We need to get up.” George sat up slowly, stretching his arms and rubbing the sleep out of his eyes. He looked down at Dream and pulled him up, giggling at the boy’s groans. “Comeeee onnnn, Dreammmmmm…”

Dream just rolled his eyes and sat up and felt the heat of the Georgia air on his chest. He missed the pressure that had just been there. He missed George.

“Maybe we can get breakfast somewhere good. Is there anything around here?”

“Atlanta’s about an hour from here, I think. We could get lunch there.”

George rolled out of the bed and looked down at himself, face turning red until he pulled his clothes on and turned back to Dream. “Let’s do that.”

They checked out of the little motel and hopped back in the familiar car. George sat in the passenger seat and crossed his legs, eager to get back on the road. It was the first time in years that he’d woken up and didn’t mind being sober and, while it was a strange feeling, it wasn’t necessarily bad.

That was until they were driving for a while and all of the sleepiness had completely left his system. George could feel his body aching and longing for that high, but he forced the thought away. He rubbed his eyes and turned up the radio and mindlessly hummed along. It played some popular song, one that he didn’t know too well, but he hummed along anyway. Dream joined him softly, mumbling the lyrics and setting his hand on the center console.

Today, completely sober and well-slept, George hesitated to take it. He thought for a moment, listening to his friend’s quiet singing voice. It was smooth and sweet and he resisted the urge to lean closer, even just to hear it a bit better. George settled for staring ahead and sliding his fingers between Dream’s.

Now that they were back to their peaceful quiet, he had way more time to take everything in. Dream’s hands were rough. Old callouses ridged across his fingertips and a few light scars cut jagged lines across his fist. His fingers felt nice between George’s though. His hands were way bigger and engulfed the British boy’s entirely in their heat.

The song switched to a more upbeat one and Dream grinned, singing along obnoxiously and pulling George from his thoughts. The boy’s sunglasses teetered on the tip of his nose as he bounced his head and slammed on the gas. “C’mon Georgie, sing with me!”

“I might have considered if you didn’t use that stupid name,” George complained over the music. The speaker beside him buzzed with muted static. It was definitely busted for good now. 

“Oh _come on_ George! Have some fun with me!” Dream turned to him with a devilish grin and dark eyes. “ _It’s my last day, George_.”

“You can’t guilt-trip me!”

“It’s not guilt-tripping if I’m asking nicely!” George rolled his eyes and Dream turned the music even louder, singing to match the volume.

“ _Fine_!”

“What?!?” Dream shouted over the song, cocking an eyebrow at him.

“Fine! I’ll sing your stupid song!” George laughed and pretended to hate it, but it was a good distraction from the Dream-shaped weight on his chest and mind that seemed to be forcing its way to the forefront of all of his thoughts. 

The two sang back and forth and in awful duet, song after song, while cruising through the endless highways on the way to Atlanta hand-in-hand. George’s heart thudded and yeah it hurt a bit, but it was a good kind of hurt. The kind he didn’t mind feeling.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> yoooo i'm back! new chapter pog :) what'd you guys think of this one? it's one of my favorites but i'm wondering what thoughts you guys have! predictions? favorite parts? lemme know :)
> 
> also, merry early christmas y'all! i'm probably gonna post the next chapter on christmas day so that's exciting!!! pretty hyped for the rest of the story from here on out ngl it's gonna get pretty interesting and i'm excited to see what you guys think... 
> 
> as usual, thanks for all the love you guys are the fucking best and i seriously couldn't ask for nicer readers <3 <3 <3


	16. chapter sixteen. falling for u.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> i'm scared  
> of telling you how i feel  
> maybe it's better if i just try to conceal the truth  
> for me and, for you

12:45 PM.

Dream and George sat across from each other in the Atlanta Waffle House, both eying the menu but one sneaking glances at the other.

George had decided a while ago that he was simply going to ignore all feelings for his friend from that moment onward and thus refused to acknowledge the fact that he couldn’t take his eyes off of Dream. The boy’s sunglasses were nestled amongst his hair and the bruise on his nose was starting to fade. He smiled to himself as he looked over the options for lunch and George felt his heart skip. He ignored it.

If he were honest with himself, George would understand what he was feeling. He would acknowledge it and accept himself and carry on through life knowing that he’d had a crush on his best friend for more years than he’d like to admit before letting him go for good instead of shooting his shot, but nothing was ever that easy and so he lied. To Dream. To himself.

“Are you boys ready to order yet?”

“Uh, yeah,” George managed to get out before ordering one waffle and a water. Dream got the same but with apple juice. The woman walked away and they were left alone again, this time without the menus to distract them.

“So how’d you sleep?” Dream asked casually. He still looked a little sleepy, but much better than the previous day. He looked happier too. 

“Not too bad,” George danced around the words at the tip of his tongue. Ones about cuddles and heat and a hand on his bare waist. “I’m still a bit tired though.”

“You can sleep in the car.”

“Don’t you need your travel buddy though?” George felt bad leaving Dream alone after making him drive most of the previous day. The more he thought about the previous day as a whole, the guiltier he felt. George decided that he was going to forget it and start over. Well, he was going to forget about the bad parts.

“George, if you’re tired you can sleep. I won’t mind.” Dream looked at him with genuine golden eyes and George froze, unable to do anything but nod. He was starting to remember how he’d felt years ago and why he’d distanced himself so much from that part of his past. It made sense though, right? Anyone would feel something funny in their chest if Dream looked at them like that… right? “Unless you miss cuddling with me too much?”

The look on George’s face must’ve been nothing short of awful because Dream immediately lost it. He shook with laughter, smacking his hand against the table lightly. “YOU DO! ADMIT IT!”

“Do not! You were so fucking warm and wouldn’t stop kicking me! That’s why I’m so tired, you- you-” George couldn’t finish his sentence over Dream’s laughter, settling for jokingly glaring at the boy until his wheezing died down. “I- I’m not even going to try with you Dream.”

“Come on _George_ , you’re no fun.” He stretched and leaned back in his seat slightly. “It’s fine though. _You_ cuddled into _me_ so I know you liked it.” 

“Fuck you, Dream. I will take the keys to the car and walk out right now and leave you in this fucking Waffle House.”

“You would never, Georgie.” 

“That’s it!” George could hardly keep the laughter in as he tried to stand up jokingly but Dream grabbed his wrist and stopped him. He froze dead on the spot and whirled around. Dream didn’t let him go. The blond could definitely feel his pulse and could probably tell his heart was about to explode.

“Fine George, I’ll be nice! We only have like six hours left anyway…” They would be to Orlando by dinnertime. Dream would be gone for good. George sat back down.

Shortly after, their waffles arrived and the two fell back into a comfortable quiet that mixed well with the busy atmosphere of the restaurant. Not long after, they were back in the parking lot and George was moving the boxes behind his seat out of the way so he could pull a lever and lean the passenger seat back a bit. He stretched out and rested his feet on the dashboard and Dream was back behind the driver’s seat, plugging his phone into the aux cord and starting the car again.

Traveling through Atlanta wasn’t too bad. It got a little busy at times, but George spent most of it watching out the window and snapping pictures occasionally. He was building quite the collection now and, as they left the city, he scrolled through it and saved some of his favorites.

The pictures of Dream seemed to stare at him and he felt his face warm as he looked at them. The real Dream was paying no attention, lost in his thought as he drove with two hands and hummed to the song on the speakers. George let him be, watching him out of the corner of his eye every once in a while to make sure he was doing alright. 

The British boy was a lot more observant than most gave him credit for. He knew Dream had been crying the previous day. He knew his friend very well and could take a few good guesses as to what he was thinking of. He didn’t push though. If Dream didn’t want to talk, he wasn’t going to force it.

Eventually, he turned off his phone. The picture of Dream staring into the sunset seemed to be burned into his eyelids as he felt his eyes flicker closed and rolled onto his side, readjusting his seatbelt before slipping into a peaceful sleep.

-

Dream had always known he wasn’t straight. It was never really a question for him, he just felt the same way about boys as he did girls and that was always okay. He never had anyone to tell and so he never did, but he always knew. That was all that mattered.

So as he drove down GA-401 for hours on end, he thought about his feelings for George. It was obvious he had them, that much was true. There was no hiding it. When he looked over at the sleeping boy beside him, a smile crossed his lips and that didn’t happen with just anyone. It wasn’t that surprising that it happened either. Dream had a bit of a history for falling for anyone who even treated him to even the slightest affection. Maybe it wasn’t the best, but it was just how his brain seemed to work so he never questioned it.

It was only inevitable that he developed feelings for George. He saw the way the boy looked at him. How he blushed when they held hands. How he’d looked against Dream’s chest in that little motel bed. Dream didn’t want it to end. He wanted to feel the way he felt when he was with George forever. He wanted to be loved.

That realization followed him through Georgia and into northern Florida as midday shifted to later afternoon. He sped down the highways, going nearly 20 over the speed limit just to keep himself interested. His playlist had cycled through so he put on a radio station. It was definitely something George would like if he were awake. 

He almost wanted to wake the older boy. Wanted to take his last couple hours with him selfishly, spending every minute soaking up his energy and his laughter and his smile. But Dream left him alone. He let George sleep. He wasn’t sure where the brunet was going, but he would probably need the sleep. 

Dream couldn’t imagine George staying in Florida. His friend had never liked heat or sun and besides, where would he stay? Dream would gladly let him live in his dorm in a heartbeat, but he knew there would be no space and his roommate wouldn’t allow it and if he got caught… Dream couldn’t risk getting kicked out of college. He’d have nowhere to go. 

It was nearly 3:30 now and Dream watched a sign whiz past that let him know he was entering Florida. It was a cute sign with a little graphic of a sunset over an ocean. As Dream’s gaze shifted over to George’s sleeping form, he got an idea.

It was a really good one and the blond knew in a heartbeat that there would be no going back from it. If he did it, who knew what would happen. But that could be a good thing. It could buy him time. Maybe George could figure out his feelings in that time. Maybe Dream could work up the courage to speak his aloud. What would happen if they did though?

So many thoughts raced through Dream’s brain as he tapped on the steering wheel nervously. The same idea circled through his head over and over and over until it was practically screaming at him from all sides.

“Okay that’s it. I’m doing it.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hey guys :) merry christmas to those who celebrate :) and i hope everyone else has a really really good day <3
> 
> okay that's it for now, next update is coming soon! thanks for the love and support ily <3 <3


	17. chapter seventeen. feels like we only go backwards.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> i know that you think you sound silly when you call my name  
> but i hear it inside my head all day  
> when i realize i'm just holding on to the hope that maybe  
> your feelings don't show

4:40 PM.

When George woke up, the car was parked in a gas station and Dream was inside. Or so he guessed. The car was off and the keys were gone but the doors were locked and George pulled on the lock as he blinked the sleep out of his eyes, popping the door open. 

He squinted in the bright Floridian sunlight and looked around for a moment, closing the door and stepping into the gas station. He could only presume that was where his friend had gone. George stretched his arms and wandered down the first aisle he spotted, looking around for Dream. After a moment, he spotted a tuft of blond hair disappearing around a corner.

“Oh Dream…” he whispered, following the boy and tapping on his shoulder. Dream whirled around with a look of surprise, nearly knocking the sunglasses off his nose. 

“George! What are you doing in here?” 

“I woke up and figured you were doing something inside so I thought I’d come bother you.” 

It was then when he noticed what was in Dream’s hands. He had two tall bottles, one of lemonade and the other of Coke, along with snacks. Nothing sugary but he did have a couple bags of chips and a wrapped platter of cheese, crackers, and sliced meat. It looked like a proper meal.

“What are you gonna do with all of that?”

“It’s for us! For dinner.” 

“Dream, dinner isn’t for another hour or two and we’ll be in Orlando by then anyway,” George questioned as the two started walking toward the check-out counter. Dream just shrugged and set the items down. 

“We’ll eat it in Orlando then.” He paid for the snacks and headed back out to the car with George trailing on his heels. The taller was about to walk toward the driver’s side when a hand gripping the back of his shirt stopped him. “George what-”

“I’m going to drive the rest of the way.”

“What? No? I can do it.” Dream shook of George’s hand and opened the back door, setting the food and drinks on the back seat. “You can just relax and take your pictures, okay?”

George frowned. “Dream no, I’m _going_ to drive the rest of the way.” He needed to do something for his friend. The friend who he’d made drive almost the entire previous day. The friend who had to comfort him through a fucking panic attack. The friend who got him out of L’Manberg. George needed to repay him somehow, even if it was in the smallest way possible. He was going to do this whether Dream wanted him to or not.

Dream turned to him, slamming the door slightly on the car and facing him head-on. This was the first time they’d been standing so close and George couldn’t help but look up. Dream was over half-a-foot taller than him. “George seriously, I got it.”

The older boy held his ground. “I just- I want to drive you to Orlando. You deserve a break.”

“But what if I don’t want one?”

George took a step forward. “You’re just gonna have to deal with it then.” He got an idea. He stared dead into the green eyes, leaning in close with a smile across his lips. Dream took a step back until he was pressed against the car, face flushing a dark red. George could feel Dream’s breathing hitch slightly and knew it was working. His distraction tactic was a success.

“What are you-”

He grabbed the keys out of Dream’s stunned hand and lept back with a cheer. “Ha! Got you Dream!” 

Dream’s reaction was way too delayed. He stared for just a moment too long at the spot where George’s face had been before noticing the missing keys. “GEORGE!” He chased the older boy in a circle around the car, completely determined to get the keys back.

His surprise wouldn’t work if George was driving. He would get suspicious sooner or later and the plan would fail and Dream would have to explain himself and that was something he simply couldn’t do. He couldn’t fail. He would have to drive the rest of the way. And yet, George pulled open the door and hopped into the driver’s seat with a whoop.

Dream stood outside of the car, leaning against the open door and peering inside at the British boy. He was adjusting the seat to his shorter height, messing with the rearview mirror and turning the key to start the vehicle. “Come _on_ , George. Let me drive.”

“Nope.” George popped the ‘p’ obnoxiously and turned back to his friend. “Why do you want to drive so badly anyway? Yesterday you wouldn’t stop asking for breaks.”

“Uh-” Dream could feel his face growing red and was glad for the sunglasses that covered the tops of his flushed cheeks. “I just want to drive, is that so hard to believe?”

“Yes it is, Dream.” George’s dark eyes narrowed and he put his hands on the steering wheel. “I am going to drive and you’re going to take a break and you’re going to appreciate it.” His voice sounded a bit more strained than he intended. More upset.

“You okay, George?” Dream bent down to his height, poking his head into the car. “Why do you want to drive so bad?”

George sighed, unable to make eye contact. “I… I already said it, but I want to give you a break. I want to drive you to Orlando, Dream. You’ve earned it. For paying for everything… doing most of the driving… please Dream?”

And just like that, Dream’s resolve cracked before shattering completely. His mind raced with a dozen other ways that the surprise could still work out as he stared into dark eyes and felt a little smile tug at his lips. George _cared_ about him. It might not have been the romantic confession of his dreams, but it was nice to be confirmed and so Dream slowly nodded, backing away from the driver’s side and walking around to the passenger seat. He slid in and gave George a little grin.

“Alright then, just one rule: you have to follow the GPS, no matter what.”

“Huh?” George closed the door and watched the device flicker on, loading up the previous route before continuing it. “Why wouldn’t I do that?”

“I can’t really explain, but I need you to trust it. Trust me.”

George felt suspicion creeping up on him. Something was off here. Was there something wrong with the GPS? Something wrong with Dream? Did he change his mind and set the route to L’Manberg? “Dream, you’re not making sense.”

“I know but… just trust me, alright?”

“Um, okay.” 

George pulled out of the parking lot and started on the route the GPS gave him, but he couldn’t shake the feeling that something was off. He trusted Dream, that much was true, but he didn’t know why the boy felt the need to clarify something that he was already doing. George was always the mysterious one here. Dream was always straightforward. He didn’t like the sudden role reversal and wondered when they could switch back.

Either way, George was happy to be in the driver’s seat, even if it came with an awkward tension between he and Dream. He could change the radio station at will and take in the scenery and finally get his first good look at Florida. He didn’t really mind the state, but he knew it would be perfect for his friend. The sunshine would tan his skin to a beautiful gold and the heat would add little waves to his hair. He would fit in with the locals perfectly and make friends and find love… 

Okay, maybe he didn’t want to think about that. George shook the idea out of his head and turned to look at the boy, who was watching the road signs intently and reading each one. Big town names zoomed past: Orlando, Miami, Naples, Tampa. He recognized most of them but most of all, the one where Dream would be living for the next four years. Orlando. In just a few short hours, they would be pulling into the town and George would be waving goodbye to his best friend. He gleaned down at the GPS and saw the angry black numbers staring back at him. They would arrive at their destination in two hours.

He didn’t want to think about that either.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> yoooooo surprise double update?!?!?!? maybe!!!! :)))))))
> 
> okay i'm off to christmas gotta go open some presents or something i'll stop updating for now :)


	18. chapter eighteen. shelter.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> and it's a long way forward, so trust in me

6:10 PM.

Dream realized very quickly why George did nothing but sleep on the road. Being in the passenger seat with a phone that had no apps on it was a very boring pastime, but it wasn’t like he could sleep. George would catch onto what was happening eventually and the surprise would be ruined. So he stayed awake.

George, on the other hand, didn’t seem too bothered. He hummed along to the radio and bounced his foot on the beats, watching the traffic around him as the sun started to sink lower into the sky. He was following the GPS perfectly under Dream’s watchful eye.

The two didn’t talk much, but there also wasn’t much to say. The quiet wasn’t exactly peaceful, but it wasn’t quite tense yet. There was an awkward between stage and it was where the black car landed, leaving the two boys inside with a strange awareness of one another.

Dream watched George. He didn’t touch him but noticed his smaller hand laying across the center console. Didn’t rest his head on his shoulder like before, as much as he’d like to. His eyes scanned over milky skin and dark hair and he tried to avoid the wandering of his thoughts. Now was not the time. He had to stay focused… but then he thought about what it would be like to run his fingers through George’s hair and kiss those pink lips and hold those slender hands above his head and-

The blond forced himself to look out the window instead. He needed to talk or sleep or something. Anything to keep his mind from wandering like that again. 

“So George… what have you been up to?” It was an awkward question and Dream cringed the second it left his lips, but it did get the brunet to look at him so it was effective.

“Huh?”

“Like, outside of school. What have you been doing?”

George thought for a moment. “Nothing too interesting. Watching movies. Playing Minecraft. Everything we used to do, I guess.”

_We_. Dream couldn’t describe how much he missed doing that stuff together. They would go to George’s house on the weekends and play video games for hours on end. He hated to admit it, but he hadn’t touched Minecraft since those days. “Oh, that’s nice…” He felt the awkward air resume and floundered to stop it. “Have you done anything interesting with Minecraft? I know you were getting into coding back in middle school and…” he trailed off again, unable to think of how to finish the sentence.

“Yeah, I guess.” George turned to him with a little smile and a sparkle in his dark eyes. “I was messing with a few things on my old PC before we left. I had a couple ideas on how to add some interesting concepts to the game and I’m still thinking about them but I won’t be able to continue working on it until I set up all my stuff again.”

“That’s good. Glad to see you’re still into all that stuff as much as I am.” A lie. Dream didn’t even have a device to play the game on anymore. It was always his mother’s old laptop and then that… broke. 

“Hey Dream, I think the GPS is broken.”

Dream froze. All thoughts of Minecraft and coding and a shattered computer left his mind in an instant and he was drawing a blank on what to say. “... why do you say that?”

“Because- okay, look at this.” George pointed to a sign that passed overhead. It was green with big white text that read “Orlando” with an arrow pointing to the left. “Orlando goes that way, right? So why is it telling me to stay to the right? This section of the highway is going the complete opposite way?”

“Maybe it goes around? Like the highway turns later?” 

“Then why would the sign say to turn now?”

“I- I don’t know, George. Just follow the GPS.” It was a bad save and it sounded like he was mad at the older boy, even if he sincerely wasn’t. George raised an eyebrow and looked at him directly, dark eyes piercing holes in his chest.

“Dream, what’s going on? You said that earlier and it didn’t make sense, but now you’re saying it again and the thing is leading us the wrong way. Don’t lie to me. Please.”

Dream sighed. He was caught and he didn’t know what to say to make it better. “Nothing, I promise! I just think you should follow it because why wouldn’t you?”

“I’ve been following it this whole time so I don’t know why you needed to point out specifically that I should. Especially now that it’s taking us in the wrong direction. There’s something going on here Dream and I don’t know if it’s just that you don’t trust me or…” George trailed off, careful to avoid raising his voice. He could see an uncomfortable look in Dream’s eyes and didn’t want to startle the boy. He knew Dream wasn’t big on yelling and respected that, even if he was getting a bit upset.

“No no no, of course I trust you, George! Do you think you would be driving now if I didn’t trust you?”

“I took the keys from you! You didn’t want me to drive!” George caught him completely now. He was cornered. Still, he followed the GPS down the other lane of the highway, the one that curved away from where the sign had said Orlando was. He didn’t even slow down.

“I let you take them! I trust you, George! Seriously.”

“Really? Then why is the GPS taking us the wrong way. If you trust me with the keys, you can trust me with the explanation.”

“I…” Dream let out a sigh and stared down at his hands, playing with them nervously. “It’s a surprise, George. For you. And I didn’t want to ruin it by explaining.” His green eyes darted back up, meeting George’s brown ones. “Please, George, trust me on this.”

George didn’t really know what to say. Part of him didn’t believe Dream. Part of him freaked out at the thought of a _surprise_ and immediately started to speculate what it could be. Part of him softened at the idea that Dream cared so much that he planned a surprise for him. No matter what, George looked back at the road.

He stared straight ahead with no response, but continued to follow the GPS. Dream shifted uncomfortably next to him, adjusting his seatbelt and moving his feet and playing with his fingers again, but George had nothing to say. He didn’t want to speak to the boy unless it was about some kind of explanation for his weird behavior and so, they sat in silence.

-

Half an hour later and the silence had softened somewhat. At some point, Dream had taken George’s hand again but the brunet assumed it was a mere distraction to get him to stop playing with his own fingers nervously. The music continued to play through the car, but the times of singing along with it were long gone. Something had shifted for the worse and the two were left to deal with the aftermath.

As was the norm, they didn’t discuss it. It felt like they’d tried to talk about their feelings and failed once already and so Dream and George didn’t bother with another attempt. It was easier to sit in silence. Pretend the whole thing never happened.

The car seemed to be on a steady decline, passing through several touristy Floridian towns with no clear destination. If George had to guess, he would say they were on the complete opposite side of the state from Orlando at that point. Where Orlando was closer to the Atlantic coast, they were probably nearing the Gulf. What Dream had in mind, he wasn’t sure. The surprise was sure to be an interesting one though.

It wasn’t as if George hadn’t speculated it. Were they going to arrive at another hotel? An amusement park? A house? Did Dream have any relatives in the state? Or were they just taking a roundabout way to Orlando to prolong the trip? That would’ve been a good idea when they were on better terms a few hours earlier, now it was just painful.

George hoped it wasn’t like that. He couldn’t let them end the trip on bad terms. He would simply refuse. If they pulled into the parking lot of Dream’s college and still weren’t saying much, he would lock the doors until all unspoken words were out in the air and everything was okay. He couldn’t bear to have his best friend’s last memories of him be like this.

And so he almost started talking. Several times on the way to their unknown destination, George’s brain tried to form the right words. He had decided he wanted to talk. He wanted to push past the bad things and skip to the good parts before they parted ways forever. He couldn’t let his own memories of his friend be tainted like this. They were some of the few good memories he had.

He could never get the words right, though. George could try and try and try again, but nothing ever came out. He would continue to stare straight down the highway and try to predict where they were arriving and feel nothing but confusion and pain and care for the boy beside him. He cared so much about Dream, even if he would never admit it. His feelings were consuming him quicker than he could ignore them and he could feel it happening as he drove. As he felt Dream’s hand against his own. As he glanced over and the blond in the passenger seat and focused on his features for just a bit too long. He couldn’t ignore that.

-

At 7:10, things started slipping into place. As the sun started to turn the sky an angry shade of orange, George pulled the car into the town of Clearwater, Florida and determined that they were in fact near the Gulf. They were so close that he could see it in the distance, water shimmering in an endless line against the sky.

This was nowhere near Orlando. They had to be hours from the town, two at the minimum. If he had followed the proper route instead of the GPS, Dream would be at college already.

Speaking of, the blond was staring out the window actively now, eyes following every little street sign and business name. He was looking for something. It had to do with the surprise, George was sure. 

“Looks like we’re almost here. Want to explain what all this is about now?”

“Not quite. We’ve still got like 20 minutes to go, look.” Dream pointed at the GPS that read “ARRIVAL TIME: 7:32 PM.” and George huffed in frustration.

“I don’t even know where we’re arriving too! I can’t appreciate my surprise if I don’t even know what I’m looking for!”

Dream turned to him with a bright grin, something that confused George for a moment. “You won’t be able to miss it, Georgie.”

He turned back to the road to hide his blush at the _stupid_ nickname, taking his own turn at reading the road signs. George looked for anything that could be useful to the pair. A hotel, a tourist attraction, even just a nice restaurant. He hoped that Dream wouldn’t be dumb enough to redirect the car two hours from their final destination just for something like a nice dinner, but he couldn’t be sure that it was out of the picture. He’d completely forgotten about the food in the backseat.

Finally, the GPS announced that the destination would be on the right. He turned into the correct parking lot and found a spot, looking around in confusion. George put the car in park and turned to Dream. “Okay, what the fuck is this?”

“You’ll see.” He smiled again before undoing his seatbelt and climbing out of the car. Dream was acting different and George decided he didn’t like it. He was supposed to be the mysterious one here, not his friend.

“Dream, what the hell is-” He was cut off by Dream opening the back door and grabbing out the gas station snacks from earlier. 

“Come on, Georgie! Trust me!” 

“You know what Dream, I’m not so sure that I should anymore!” 

He took the keys out of the ignition and opened the door.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hi y'all! back at it again with another chapter :) i got a new pc for christmas and so this is my first post on it! i'm playing minecraft in a second tab and watching ranboo's stream in a third... 
> 
> anyway, next chapter might take a bit longer because i don't have a first draft of it yet, but i'm hoping it'll be out sometime around new year's! okay that's all i got for now hope y'all liked the chapter! i'm curious to see what the theories are on dream's surprise :)))


	19. chapter nineteen. time to pretend.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> but there is really nothing, nothing we can do  
> love must be forgotten, life can always start up anew

7:35 PM.

Dream watched George as he slowly climbed out of the car, looking around. He had no idea what was going on. Somehow, Dream had managed to pull off the surprise.

“Okay seriously, Dream, where are we going?” He just took George’s hand and interlaced it with his own, slotting his longer fingers between the boy’s pale ones.

“Follow me.”

George nodded but still looked skeptical. He had decided that whatever happened next, he just had to trust Dream. Dream wouldn’t do anything to hurt him, right?

The blond practically dragged George through the grass across from the parking lot. A tall hill stood in front of them, looming higher and higher until the pair arrived at the base. Dream looked to George with a quick smile and a nod of reassurance before pulling his hand until the two were climbing the hill side-by-side. It was dark on their side, blocked out by the shadows, until they neared the top. Taking their final steps, George could feel his face warmed by the rays of golden hour. He stepped to the top and looked out to the horizon.

When the two reached the peak, George understood everything. 

The open ocean sprawled beneath them, soft waves crashing onto the sandy shore. Small groups of people dotted the beach, laughing or talking or chasing each other through the dunes of white sand. Photographers took pictures of the sun, but they would never be able to capture the beauty of the place. Pink-crested waves lined the horizon and Dream smiled to himself, feeling the heat of the sun on his skin. It was better than anything he could’ve imagined.

George gasped slightly, his grip on Dream’s hand tightening. That was when Dream turned to look at his friend. 

To say George was beautiful was an understatement. He was breathtaking. Ethereal. Dream couldn’t believe he was privileged enough to stand beside him. Dream with his scars and his freckles and his awkward height. George and his sunkissed face and sparkling eyes and soft lips that just began to turn upward with a smile. “Dream…” he mumbled and Dream swore he couldn’t breathe. He would never forget his name on George’s tongue. It just felt right. “It’s… amazing. It’s perfect. I… I don’t know what to say.”

“Then let’s go eat dinner, I’m starving.” He grinned as George finally tore his eyes away from the sunset and back to him. The two walked hand-in-hand to the beach, finding an open spot in the warm sand and sitting down beside each other. 

All the tension was gone. All the awkward quiet and unkept secrets suddenly dissipated, floating into the air like clouds of steam. Unspoken problems remained unspoken forever.

Dream popped open his soda bottle and took a long sip, staring out at the ocean. George coughed slightly beside him, drawing his attention. “So was this it? Your surprise?”

“Yeah. Probably not as good as you were expecting, huh?” 

“No, it’s better.” 

Dream smiled, leaning closer to the boy. He looked out at a family in the distance, two younger boys chasing each other and kicking up clouds of sand. Their shouting could be heard across the whole beach and it reminded Dream of a different time. Not necessarily a better one, but definitely different. 

“So how long are we going to stay here?” George asked, pulling him from his thoughts.

He grinned. “As long as you want, Georgie.”

“You and that damn nickname!” George rolled his eyes but he couldn’t even deny that it made him blush. He’d blame it on the heat from the sun if Dream noticed.

“What about it?”

“Just wondering where it came from. Like, why’d you start calling me that?”

Dream’s eyes flickered over his features briefly. “Because I can tell you like it.”

George was at a loss for words. He wasn’t sure what he was expecting when he’d asked the question, but that was not it. He denied nothing. He couldn’t get the words out of his mouth. Where there would normally be a snarky reply, he was left with nothing. Far too late, he replied “Not as much as you liked it when I called you _pretty boy_.” 

Dream simply hummed in response, scooting closer in the sand to steal a piece of cheese from the platter. “So what.”

“Pretty Boy is cute. _Georgie_ isn’t even creative! It’s just my name with an ‘i’.”

Dream laughed, sitting up straight and turning his whole body to face George. He made direct eye contact with a dark smirk on his lips. “What? Would you prefer _baby_ or _darling_ or maybe _daddy_ -”

George spat out his lemonade. “I hate you.” 

“We both know that’s not true.” They were right on the cusp of something. Of getting exactly what Dream had came here for. But neither pushed it over the edge. They stood at the cliff, staring into the abyss below them hand-in-hand, and yet neither jumped. 

Both turned back to the sunset. As the glowing orb sunk lower into the sky, it lit the ocean aflame and bruised the few clouds left in the sky an angry shade of purple. Dream wanted to smile and admit victory and do something, _anything_ to claim his prize, but he left George be. If the boy wasn’t ready to say what was on his mind, he couldn’t force him. Even if they were out of time. Even if they’d never see each other again.

“This is the kinda thing Wilbur would write a song about, you know?” George mumbled, more to himself than Dream. The blond couldn’t figure out what part. Two friends who refused to admit how they felt about each other? A sunset? The end of a road trip? A tragic finale to a tragic story? All seemed true enough.

“Yeah.” Dream’s gaze drifted from the sky to the shore where soft waves lapped at the wet sand. “He’d sit down there with that guitar of his and write the whole thing in like an hour and leave us all wondering how he did it.”

George smiled at the thought. “Do you think that’s what he’s doing now? Wherever he ended up?” 

“I’d like to think so.”

“And if Tommy were here, he’d get one of those water guns and chase him around with it. Like those kids over there. That’s him and Tubbo,” Dream continued his little story. “I can practically hear him, you know, ‘Take that, bitch!’” He imitated Tommy’s accent with a giggle. 

George laughed now, moving closer to him. “True. He’d try to shoot Techno and he’d take the gun and throw it in the water. Wilbur would probably make him get it back.” 

“You know who would love this? Sapnap and Karl. You just _know_ Karl would bring one of those fancy picnic blankets and plan all this stuff out and then Sapnap and Quackity would fuck with it and mess with his plans and he’d say he’s mad at them but he could never be mad at any of us.”

It was the first time the two of them had been able to say any of their names without wanting to cry. They both had grins on their faces, thinking about their old friends and what they’d be up to if they were here. 

Dream and George continued their story until they were laying in the sand, laughing so hard that they couldn’t sit up anymore. Something about how Ranboo looked like the kind of guy that couldn’t swim and Wilbur would try to fuck a fish and Tommy would bring a cake to the beach. The two were practically in hysterics, leaning against each other until they could breathe again and the sun was so low in the sky that it was just a sliver against the water, disappearing when waves curled over its height.

“Goddamn I miss them so much.” Dream’s eyes reflected the sky as he looked out at it, the last traces of a smile dying on his lips while he sat up and dusted the sand off his back and out of his hair.

“Me too.” 

“Okay, no more talking about them. We’ve done enough of that,” Dream said as he ate one of the last crackers on the platter and George chastised him for it. It was a dumb distraction from the prior conversation, but it worked nonetheless. There was nothing interesting left to look at in the sky and so George turned to his friend, tracing his scars with his eyes.

“What should we talk about then? Unless you’re ready to go?” Dream shook his head adamantly at that. 

“No no no, we don’t need to do that yet. There’s still so much we can do.”

“Like what?”

“You can finally tell me where you’re going.” 

George froze, eyes darting from Dream’s bruised nose to the darkening sky in the distance. He let out a sigh and Dream wondered if he pushed too far. He just wanted an explanation to _something_. He wanted any little thing to make this all make sense. 

“Can we… not talk about the future? Just for now?”

“So we’re not talking about the future and we’re not talking about the past. That leaves us with…”

“Right now. Let’s just talk about right now.”

“Well, what’s there to talk about?”

“The sky. The sand. The ocean.”

“You. Me.”

“Yep. Me and you.”

Dream leaned against George’s shoulder, a lop-sided grin across his lips. “I like the sound of that.” _I like us. Together._ He wanted to say it but the words died on his tongue. 

“Me too.” Dream looked up at him with those deep, beautiful eyes before burying his face into the crook of his neck.

George laughed. “What are you doing?” 

“Memorizing how you feel. For- for when you’re gone.” George frowned, staring out at the sea. He felt Dream press into his neck, the boy’s lips lightly gliding across his skin. He shivered. Dream sniffled a little and George pulled him closer, wrapping an arm around the blond’s waist.

There were no words left to be said and so the two sat. They listened to the water and watched the sun setting in the distance and took in every detail of each other, charting them all on a mental map before placing it in a box of memories they never wanted to forget. There weren’t very many of those.

The pair didn’t stand until the sky was a deep purple and the streetlights were flickering on. Headlights shimmered in the distance and the clouds reflected a blue haze of pollution. Dream and George stood in unison. George’s hand was still around Dream’s waist and Dream’s head was still on George’s shoulder. They fit perfectly together, like two pieces without the rest of the puzzle. It was fine. They didn’t need it anyway. 

“Alright Georgie, let’s do this.”

“Whatever you say, pretty boy.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this is the beach episode everyone wanted, right?
> 
> also i thought of another dnf au and i kinda wanna write it so i'm considering writing 2 fics at once (which is a horrible idea i know, but it'll be fun!) anyway so here's my elevator pitch:
> 
> dnf au where everything is the same but in this world you can't see colors until your soulmate touches something. like if your soulmate touches a doorknob you can suddenly see that it's gold instead of the usual grey. anyway, george comes to visit florida and stays in dream's house and the whole thing is from george's pov and he only sees in black and white until he starts seeing small things. a shelf at the grocery store is suddenly a cream color or a road sign is gold. it's always non-specific things in public spaces and it feels like his soulmate is messing with him. also dream wears gloves all the time. wonder if that has any connection? :) (bonus: george is still red-green colorblind and this complicates things.)
> 
> god i literally have so many ideas for it- hhhhhhhhhh
> 
> okay typical end of note plugging of my [twitter](https://twitter.com/egirIpatches) and the [spotify playlist](https://open.spotify.com/playlist/5fM4R4qIUtTJOJuospUDGm?si=YTocUWg9Sci2HFdnq3sXtQ) for this story :)))))
> 
> one last thing: happy new year's!!!! <3 <3 <3


	20. chapter twenty. heavy with hoping.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> shut me up  
> shoot me down before i break and tell the truth  
> heavy with hoping  
> heavy hoping you love me too.

9:15 PM.

George was going to withhold his promise to drive Dream to Orlando if it was the last thing he ever did and, the way he was feeling, it felt like it would be. With every mile that passed, every road sign that flickered by in reflective gold, he could feel his chest tightening and throat closing and threatening to suffocate him right there in the driver’s seat.

Dream was leaning against him, one hand on his back and the other holding his. The blond’s head rested as a gentle weight on his shoulder and George could feel every inhale and exhale his friend took. They sent shivers down his spine. 

He didn’t know what to think now. He was at a loss for even thoughts. Only Dream could manage to get him like that. 

George would have a fleeting moment of clear thinking every few minutes, but it was never anything useful. Stuff like waking up beside Dream in a shared bed. Getting breakfast with him. Going on more drives. Seeing more beaches. But the daydreams could only remain pure for so long. George could only keep his desires suffocated for mere minutes before they would resurface with butterflies in his stomach and a tightening in his muscles as he thought about _less wholesome_ activities. Kisses under stars. Hands in his hair. Bruises on his wrists. Waist. Thighs. 

He had a crush. There was no way around it. He wanted Dream in more than just a friendship type of way, and even just thinking those four words made him want to crash the car into a ditch. _I have a crush_. George’s stomach turned again, but now it didn’t feel like butterflies. _It felt like a tornado. I have a crush. On a boy. On my best friend_.

 _I have a crush on Dream_. 

It had been that way for years. George, somewhere deep down in his subconscious, knew that he had taken a non-platonic liking to his friend way back in middle school, but he never thought he would admit it. He never thought he would be so close to the boy. He never thought he would have a chance with him.

But did he really? George thought it over as he pressed the gas a little harder, sending the black car careening over the speed limit. The sky was pitch-black now. A blank slate for his thoughts. Staring at it did nothing but fan the flames of the fire that coursed through every inch of his body and burned his skin. 

After that night, George was certain he would never see Dream again. It just wasn’t meant to be. And yet he wondered if it wasn’t too late to change his plans. Orlando approached in the distance, looming in his mind and his vision. He could live there. He could live there and stay with Dream and confess his feelings and everything could be alright.

He let himself indulge in the idea for a moment. George let himself wonder what it would be like to live with Dream. They would wake up in the same bed in a little apartment. A skyscraper downtown. It would be a cute little place with just enough room for the two and maybe a cat. Yeah. They would have a pet cat. Dream liked cats. They had been his favorite animal back when they were kids and George guessed they were probably his favorite animal now.

Dream would go to his college and George would get a job. He would pay for the two of them with those coding skills he had been working on. They would survive off of what they had and maybe, when they had enough, he could quit and start up on that old dream of being a streamer. Yes. He could do that and he could take Dream with him. They could become famous together. As a couple. 

The internet wouldn’t have to know they were dating though. That could be their own little secret. Left to kisses in the night and cuddles in the morning and arms around waists and small hands wrapped in much larger ones. 

It would all be enough. The two would finally be happy because that was all they ever wanted. Real happiness. George could quit his drug addiction.

George decided he wanted that life. He wanted to change his plans so desperately in that moment. He had never _wanted_ so much before. 

Orlando approached much quicker now, buildings growing in size with every passing block until they were in the heart of downtown and Dream was sitting up. His heat finally left George, who frowned until he realized their hands were still together. They were still together. They still had time.

George was pulled back to the present abruptly and noticed immediately how loud the music in the car was. Dream had turned it up and was singing along, cheering. “Drink it in George, we fucking did it! We’re in Orlando, baby!” He had a sudden burst of energy and George was glad for the dark of the night as it hid the deep blush on his cheeks from the nickname.

“Hell yeah we did, pretty boy!” He raised their linked fingers in the air with a false happiness. “Look at these two idiots, driving across the whole country in two days!”

The city’s lights and excitement engulfed them in that moment. The windows got rolled down and the warm night air filled the vehicle, seeming to crackle with electricity.

“Another twenty minutes and we’ll be at my school.” Dream stared up at the buildings in awe, admiring what would now be his new home. It finally felt real. “I did it,” he whispered to himself.

“We _both_ did it.” George set their hands back on the console and grinned at him, smiling so hard it hurt. “This was a team effort.”

“You’re right. Congratulations to us for- uh- only crashing the car once?” He chuckled. “We didn’t die and that’s all that matters.”

After a moment of the loud music, they were both still very much on their adrenaline highs. This, combined with the haziness of the night and the blanket of sleep-depravity that began to engulf both of their bodies, set a very interesting tone in the little car. Dream felt like he was floating while George felt like everything was crashing down.

“You realize this means you’re leaving me in twenty minutes, right?” George turned down the music.

“I mean, we still have phones. We won’t be truly gone,” Dream giggled, still drinking in the city under the best kind of haze.

“I’m not kidding.” Even if George wished he was.

“Can’t you come visit me on spring break or something?”

“I don’t know if I’ll be in town.”

This sobered Dream up quite quickly. He turned down the music even more. “Where are you going to be.” It wasn’t a question. He had asked it enough times and never gotten an answer.

“I wish I knew.”

“Why are you so fucking vague all of the time?”

“I wish I-” George stopped himself and smiled a little. “It’s a part of the mystery.” 

“Ugh!” Dream turned the music back up. Distraction: successful. “I try to get serious for one minute, but you’re just as ruined as I am right now.”

“Ruined?”

“Tired. Exhausted. Tragically sober.”

“Then you’re totally right. We’re both ruined.”

The outskirts of the city got closer. With this, the University of Central Florida appeared in their way and the finale of their great American road trip felt nearer than ever before. The excitement of the city wore off and the two were left in a heavy silence with the air around them becoming tense, weighed down with inevitable farewells.

Neither ever could’ve imagined in the farthest stretches of their dreams that this would’ve ended this way. Their fingers interlaced, their faces flushed with heat, their eyes holding contact. It felt like a goodbye that neither was ready to have just yet.

The parking lot was unlit. The teenagers were plunged into inky blackness as Dream steered around one of the main buildings and to the dorms in the back. The headlights illuminated their path as they passed lecture hall after lecture hall.

“Which one is it?” George asked quietly.

“Last building, one of the first dorms on floor one.” As he said it, the building appeared. Dream pulled the car into a spot and turned off the engine.

Their eyes met again in the darkness. George could see the distant city lights in the reflection of Dream’s glassy eyes, but he could also see himself. They could see each other in their gaze.

Dream’s thumb ran over George’s hand and the other boy shivered slightly. No music played, but they could both hear it. The city around them. The cars, the buzzing of the lights, the voices of the hundreds of thousands of people that lived around them. Most of all, the breathing of each other, shaky and uncertain.

“Are you ready to go?”

“No.”

“Do you want a minute?”

“No.” Dream clicked his seat belt and pulled it off, stepping out of the car suddenly. It was now or never. George followed him out of the vehicle and to the stack of his boxes in the back. “What are you doing?”

“You’re going to need some help moving in, aren’t you?”

Dream smiled in the darkness. “Don’t you have places to be?”

“They can wait a little longer. It’s not like I have a _schedule_ or something. That’d be dumb.” George grabbed the first box on top and lifted it out of the car. Dream grabbed his own box and walked to the door of the dark building, turning to look at his old friend.

“Thank you.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> we're almost done :)


	21. chapter twenty one. laughter lines.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> i'll see you in the future when we're older  
> and we are full of stories to be told.  
> cross my heart and hope to die,  
> i'll see you with your laughter lines.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> quick tw because this chapter goes into a bit more detail than past ones have: child abuse (never explicitly shown but referenced and mentioned several times), a brief mention of an alcoholic parent, and vague references to child neglect.

Dream stepped out of his window with his MP3 player clutched to his chest, dropping onto the grass of his backyard with a light thud that made him cringe. He squinted his eyes shut as he closed the window behind himself. His gaze darted along the wall of the little house to where he could see into the living room. His mother and her new husband shared the couch as they watched something on TV that played far too loud. He frowned at the sight of his mother’s dainty arm wrapped around the muscular man and darted away from the house, pushing his pair of sunglasses onto his nose. They were a bit too big for the child.

As the young boy sprinted down the rough sidewalk, he plugged his headphones into the music player and pressed the play button. The songs shuffled and landed on one of his favorites, one his mother used to love. He jogged to the beat as the chorus kicked in again, turning to check behind himself in case his mother noticed that he left and tried to follow. Deep down, he knew that she never would but thought that it wouldn’t hurt to double check.

The lyrics filled his brain and he grinned despite their dark undertones. Something about human desires. Power. Control. He didn’t focus on the words anyway. He just liked the beat. The heavy synths and guitars buzzed in and out of his brain like a bee and Dream continued to smile as he arrived at his final destination.

-

George laid on the couch in his living room and wiped his nose with a tissue, sweeping it under his eyes as well. However, his vision remained trained on the television. He’d seen the movie countless times and could quote it line for line, but found himself tearing up all the same.

Upbeat music came out of the high-class speakers that protruded from the walls as the characters on-screen, the happy couple who had finally gotten their dance despite spending the whole movie crushing on each other, smiled in pure glee. The boy, at only age eleven, found himself watching a romance film meant for people twice his age and sobbing about it all the same. Except that every time he’d watched it with other people, they never cried. They would wonder why he did, but they never cried with him.

As the credits rolled, the boy’s bright eyes darted to the clock on the wall and noted the time. It took him a minute to read the long hands and roman numerals but once he understood, he gasped and turned off the TV. “Shoot!” he shouted and slid on his tennis shoes, sprinting out of the empty house. He left the back door open for himself.

George arrived at the park shortly after his best friend, Dream. He saw the boy sitting atop a slide and waved, shaking his hand in the air and running to the bottom. Despite the distance between them, George could still see the dark marks amongst his friend’s fair skin. The blond boy grinned like he was having the best day ever, but the finger-shaped bruises blooming along his bare arm told a different story.

“Hey George!!” Dream cheered as he slid down the slide, landing near his best friend at the bottom and stumbling onto the ground. He made a strangled noise as he stepped onto the wood chips and leaned down, rubbing his legs slightly.

“Hey man, what’s up with you?” George pretended he didn’t see anything wrong with his friend. You could get good at anything when given a long period of time to practice and that was exactly what he had done.

“Nothing much. Just the same old stuff,” Dream shrugged. “How’s the sitter?”

“Skipped again today.”

“Typical.”

George let out a little laugh. “Yeah. It’s not like I can do anything about it either ‘cause she’ll have my ass if I say anything to Mom and Dad.” The two walked away from the playground and toward the woods behind the school.

“That sucks, man.”

“What about you? Are things getting better?”

“Yeah, I think so. Actually, he’s probably the same, it’s just I’ve been home less.” The pair entered the dark woods, the only light coming in through flickers between the leaves overhead. Neither could see the end of the trees as they faded into black in the distance, but they didn’t fear the blackness. There were much scarier things in the light where everyone could see them. Even if no one looked.

“Which direction is Pogtopia again?” 

“Right through here.” Dream led the two of them through a cluster of bushes and into a secluded area in the heart of the forest. The sun shone down on the spot and warmed the bright green grass that covered the clearing. The trees seemed far away when the children stood in it, the sunlight enveloping them in a soft heat that was non-existent in the darkness of the woods.

A blanket sat in the center with a wall made of sticks surrounding it. A pile of other kids sat inside the fort, talking and eating snacks and enjoying each others’ company. Dream and George jumped right in with a quick greeting and a cheer from their friends. Just a hop over the barrier wall and a plop of feet on the blanket.

Their conversations never consisted of anything noteworthy, usually just recaps of what had happened in their classes or whose older siblings had gotten in trouble or what happened in their favorite shows. Pogtopia was the perfect place for things like that. It was the perfect place for kids who just wanted to be kids without their shoulders shaking under the weight of the world, even if they didn’t know it at the time.

“I don’t know guys, we’ve been running low on food lately and she said she doesn’t have enough money to get me that calculator for the math test,” Wilbur lamented to the others as he laid in the center of the circle, staring directly into the sun with nothing but a squint in his eyes. The brunet’s hands picked at his yellow sweater, which was riddled with little holes that he only made larger when he pulled at them.

“That sucks, big man. I’ll see if you can borrow mine,” Tubbo said with a little smile, “You can’t take the test without one though.” The fluffy-haired boy always tried to help everyone, whether it was with advice or material objects, and they all loved him for it.

“I know.” And with that, Wilbur’s turn in the center of the circle was over and he left it by rolling to the side and sitting up. “Who’s up next?”

The game went on and on as different kids took turns sitting in the center and talking about whatever was on their minds. Most of the other children on the playground found their game boring or would give them weird looks when they disappeared into the woods during recess. They would never look back, but they would always see. They always saw.

Ranboo talked about his most recent doctor’s appointment, even if he struggled to remember most of it, and then Tubbo told a story about his father (in which the man was his typical drunk and shouting self and Tubbo pretended not to mind) and then Tommy told the story of his most recent playdate with Ranboo (who listened just as attentively as everyone else) until, finally, it was Dream’s turn.

The blond boy plopped down in the center of the circle and grinned at his friends, pushing his sunglasses up his nose. “How are we doing today?” They all smiled and a few clapped, knowing his comedy routine was about to begin.

Dream was known around the school for his bright personality and his infectious smile. That wasn’t to say that people didn’t know him for other things too, but those were mentioned less frequently.

George watched the boy shift himself in a circle around the “stage” of Pogtopia, telling the dramaticized story of the time that he and his mother witnessed a fight outside a Denny’s with a confidence about him that not many others had. George was always so proud of his best friend, even if it was a daily occurrence for him to act like this. He knew that if he had to go through things like Dream did, he wouldn’t even be able to go to school.

“Hey, does anyone know what time it is?” Dream asked as his routine ended and he accepted applause from his friends, grinning the whole way through.

“Almost five o’clock, why?” Tommy asked, looking down at his watch.

“Shit!” Dream’s eyes widened and his mouth dropped open. 

“Language!”

Dream frowned, turning to the boy who’d said it. One of his best friends, BadBoyHalo. “I have to be home in twenty minutes.”

“Don’t worry Dream, it only takes you ten minutes to get your house from here,” Niki put her hand on his shoulder slowly, trying to reassure the boy. He only stared down at the contact point, eyes blocked from view by his signature glasses.

“But didn’t you guys want to walk with me?” 

“We can do that right now.”

The group of kids left behind Pogtopia slowly, dreading going back to the real world. They walked through the dark trees in a tightly knit group, keeping the shadows at bay with the comfort of each other as their defense. They left the playground shortly after and walked down the deteriorating sidewalks of their part of town, the part that didn’t get much attention. 

Dream led the pack toward his house and he could feel his heartbeat thudding through his shoes with every step closer to the place. He wanted to slow down, turn around, and never look back but found that he had no choice. How far could an eleven-year-old get, after all?

“This is it, guys. Thanks for walking with me,” he said, turning to all of his friends as they stopped outside his front porch. A few shot him somber looks and his green eyes darted to the ground to avoid them. “See you guys tomorrow?” 

“Hopefully.” It was blunt but Tommy said it, knowing no one else would.

“Bye.” He started to walk to the door when he felt a hand on his arm. Dream flinched but when he turned to face George, who moved his dark hair out of his eyes and gave him a small smile, he felt a little better.

“Are you sure you don’t wanna stay over at my house?”

“I can’t. Not after what happened last time-”

“You could tell my mom. If she comes home. I think she could help.” If she didn’t, George thought that maybe they could try calling her. He had her phone number for emergencies and wondered briefly if this would qualify or if he’d just get scolded for wasting her time.

“That would just make it worse and-”

Dream was stopped by a loud crash behind him. He whirled around to see the front door with a cracked pane. Glass crackled in front of him, splintering like a spider’s web from whatever had hit it. There was a shout from inside the house that sounded something like his _real_ name and the children clustered around each other, cautiously taking in the scene. Niki clutched Ranboo’s arm and backed away while Techno looked about ready to fight. He stepped forward and met Dream’s eyes with his own.

“Dream, you should really-”

Dream sighed, cutting off the pink-haired boy before he could say anything else. “I have to go. See you guys tomorrow.” He opened the door with the cracked glass pane and was amazed to see that the glass didn’t fall out when he moved it. It was still together and yet beyond repair.

The last thing he saw before his mother shouted for him again was George’s face through the jagged lines of the window, frowning slightly and eyebrows crinkled in concern. He shot him a wave and a small smile. It was all he could manage.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> interesting how dream pretends his problems don’t exist and george deals with his by reminding himself that dream has it worse, even at age eleven. very interesting.
> 
> also i hoped you guys liked the other characters here! the little references were a lot of fun to include both for dream and george and all of their friends (blink and you’ll miss ranboo memory loss and dad!schlatt hehe) :)))
> 
> anyways, only two chapters left! they will be back to our regularly scheduled programming, i promise! our story is wrapping up and the boys are making their final decisions… no i cannot tell you what they are >:)


	22. chapter twenty two. goodbye to a world.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> thank you. i'll say goodbye soon.  
> though it's the end of the world, don't blame yourself now.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> take a peek at the newest tags :)

11:11 PM.

“So. This is it. The end.” Dream stood a foot away from the door to his new dorm building, hands in pockets and eyes on the floor. His feet shifted beneath him and he could feel himself getting closer to the warm body beside him. If only to feel the heat one last time. 

“Dream, you make it sound like the apocalypse,” George laughed but he could feel something in the air too. It had been there since the car crash in Kentucky, but now it was stronger than ever. A cloud hovered between the two, but not one to separate them. It brought them closer, like the pull of a tornado.

The silence that followed was deafening. They heard nothing but each other’s breathing. They saw nothing but their bodies. They knew nothing about what was to come.

Dream felt himself getting even closer, feeling more heated by the second. It was now or never. His last chance. His eyes met George’s for a mere moment before he pulled them back to the ground and stopped, backing up so his shoulders hit the brick of the wall behind him.

“Dream?” The shorter boy took a step forward, the toes of his Converse rubbing Dream’s sneakers slightly. His long fingers settled on the other’s shoulder and for once he didn’t flinch. He didn’t dare move. Their eyes met once again. For longer this time. He memorized every speckle of black and brown that floated through the endless ocean of Dream’s eyes. “Are you okay?”

Golden spheres darted down a few inches, just enough to be looking elsewhere, before closing and meeting his again. His breathing slowed ever-so-slightly. In. Out. George could hear his heart in his ears. He wondered if Dream was feeling the same things he was. He wanted to know. 

“Fuck it,” Dream muttered more to himself than George. He stepped closer until their chests were pressed flat against each other. George looked up. Dream looked down. Their noses touched. “Can I?”

George nodded.

Eyes fluttered closed. Breathing stopped momentarily. Lips met way quicker than intended by either boy as they tumbled head-first into a desperate dance against one another, each touch messier than the last. Dream was pressed against the wall even harder as George’s arms wrapped around his neck, leaning onto the tips of his toes. Their faces pushed even closer, noses bumping into each other, but neither let it distract from the moment. Teeth collided a bit too much and hands fumbled for purchase, but the two could feel the tension in the air finally fizzling out as they both pulled away for air, sucking in heavy breaths and leaning onto each other.

The night was suddenly silent. It felt as if even the city was recovering as Dream pulled George into the tightest hug he’d ever felt, sharing their warmth as the two held onto each other under the shitty roof of the college dorm complex.

Green eyes opened, peering over George’s shoulder to the black car, which was still parked where they’d left it. He pulled away from the hug slightly and looked his best friend directly in the face.

“Where are you going? Really this time. No lies. No bullshit.”

George didn’t move. He kept his arms around Dream’s neck and his face against Dream’s chest. “Well, to be completely honest with you, I’m not sure. It’s going to be far away though. You can count on that.”

“Just. Stay safe. Okay? If you’re going to do something crazy, promise me you’ll stay alive long enough that I can see you again when I’m done with school in the winter.” He let himself smile a little.

“Okay. I promise.”

It was not time to leave quite yet. They both needed a few more minutes to truly process that this was the end. Neither really had a grasp on reality in that moment as George pulled himself off of Dream and moved to stand beside him, leaning against the brick wall as well. The two looked out at the sky, sharing their minds for just a little while longer without saying a word.

A cloud moved away from the moon, allowing moonlight to shine onto the building, the parking lot, the car, and the two teenagers who moved out from under the roof to bask in its light for a bit. As they stood in the graves of their old selves, they held hands because what else was there to do in silence?

“I wish the city lights weren’t so close so we could see the stars,” George said.

Dream nodded but replied with, “They’re still there, you just gotta travel a little to see them.” He didn’t care that they couldn’t see the stars. It didn’t matter because he wouldn’t look at them anyway. Dream could have the whole Milky Way in front of him but he would still look at George. Nothing could compare to his best friend.

Another cloud passed in front of the moon and the two were basked in darkness, turning to face each other. Hands dropped to their sides awkwardly. “I guess this is it then.”

“The end.”

“Well, I’ll see you around then?” George offered a small smile and leaned in to do something. What it was, he wasn’t sure until it happened and he was pressing a soft kiss to Dream’s cheek.

“You know, as far as kisses go, our first wasn’t very good,” Dream grinned.

“Well, it was _my_ first. You don’t have an excuse.”

“You’re right. Guess I’ll have to give you an accurate representation of my skills then.” He pulled George against him playfully, ruffling his hair before moving his hand down to press against the boy’s chin. He tilted it up until he was admiring beautiful brown eyes. It didn’t last long though because soon his lips were back on George’s.

This time was slower. They held each other, drinking in every last bit of the moment. George pretended he couldn’t feel the tears trailing down Dream’s cheeks. It was easier than admitting that they were there. 

George’s slender arms snaked around Dream’s waist and held him like his life depended on it. Like the world was ending around them. This time he was certain that it was.

Dream choked back a whimper as they pulled apart. He stared at the grass. He didn’t want his last image of George to be blurred by tears.

“Goodnight, George.”

“Goodnight, Clay.” They parted ways as the world began to fall asleep around them. 

Sometimes that was just how things were meant to happen. In the privacy of silence.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so the quote from the playlist description finally fits now. brb am crying rn.
> 
> don’t worry though. chapter twenty three drops in five minutes.


	23. epilogue.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> and i know i don't belong  
> i knew it all along  
> because i'm just a space cadet  
> with nowhere to lay my head

12:40 AM.

George backed out of the parking lot quickly, disappearing into the night without so much as a glance in his rearview mirror. He cruised through the dark city in complete silence, watching as the lights rolled over his windows and illuminated the interior of the black car. It had been mere minutes but he could already feel an icy cold expelling from the place where Dream used to sit.

He searched for a while, driving in circles around the city until he finally found what he was looking for. He flipped on his turn signal and pulled into the lot of a shitty motel with the letters on its sign falling off so the title was illegible. Perfect for a one-night stay in a town he never planned to return to.

George’s shoelaces slapped against his foot with every movement of the car. His fingers tightened around the wheel. His book slid around on the backseat, making an obnoxious noise as it collided with the car door. The keys jingled in the ignition. George hated every second of it.

As he stopped the car across two parking spots in the corner of the lot, far away from all of the lamps that illuminated the old pavement, a song started on the radio. It was quiet and slow, yet perfect, and both speakers played it clearly. He smiled to himself, suddenly overcome with a feeling that started in his stomach and spread over the rest of his body.

The teenager laughed to himself at nothing particularly funny as he unbuckled his seatbelt and leaned back in his chair, starting to get hysterical. His eyes crinkled at the edges, his chin trembled uncontrollably, and his shoulders shook until it was less of a laugh and more of a sob.

Tears rolled down his face in such rapid succession that George didn’t even attempt to stop them. He clutched his sides and continued to hiccup in laughter though his desperate gulps for air were much funnier than what he had been thinking about prior.

His first kiss was shit. A lot of firsts in his life had been. The first time he used drugs, he’d almost passed out. The first time he realized he was gay, he denied it for years. The first time he realized his family didn’t truly care about him, he couldn’t remember what he’d done. Now here he was, sitting alone in a dark parking lot in Orlando after his first kiss. His first time driving on roads that weren’t just in his neighborhood. His first road trip. So many more firsts that he couldn’t even think of.

His cheeks were wet with tears, but they were not the kind of sadness. They were not the kind of grief. They were not even the kind of loneliness. They were something he had never experienced before. Freedom. Love. Pure elation. Things he could never feel with drugs numbing his system. 

It was the only time George would ever be glad he was sober.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> starting this whole fic with dream pov and ending with george pov? poetic cinema. (/j that was literally an accident i didn't mean to do that LMAOOOO)
> 
> ANYWAYS! i just want to give a huge huge huge thank you to every single person that read the fic! the support has been fucking insane (5k hits pog!) and i love every single one of you. seriously. you're all my little pogchamps :))))))
> 
> okay now that the cheesy stuff is out of the way, i just wanted to let you all know that i will be writing another dnf fic after this! it’s a soulmate au and i mentioned it in the earlier notes on one of these chapters so i will definitely be back very soon! it might be a week or two but the dnf community can’t seem to get rid of me smh. (if you wanna stay in contact until then, i have [twitter](https://twitter.com/egirIpatches) !! also if you have any art or thoughts or anything you'd like me to see...)
> 
> also, if you’re considering re-reading “warmth” in the meantime (which i’d definitely recommend /j), i made a list of some of my favorite writing moments that i think are worth looking out for:  
> -use of the title word “warmth” (which is only used twice in the whole fic hmmm wonder if that is significant…)  
> -hills, mountains, and terrain in relation to how the characters are feeling.  
> -music (especially the song titles in the chapters. listening to the lyrics/vibes of those with each chapter adds a lot, i promise. anyone who has my spotify can vouch that i was listening to “space cadet” on a loop for an hour or so while i wrote this.)  
> -dream’s sunglasses.  
> -repeated word usage. there are words surrounding the stars, motels, how things are “meant to happen”, and a couple others that i genuinely worked really hard on making match up between different parts of the story. there’s even a reference to dream’s broken glass door from the flashback chapter in chapter one :))))  
> -also use of phrases like “friend” “pair” or “duo” referring to the two. there’s a shift from “old friend” to “best friend” that i particularly love <3
> 
> one last thing! i wanna do a kinda q&a in the comments! any questions or comments or even if you just wanna scream with me, i’ll be vibing down there and talking about the characters because i’m not quite ready to let them go just yet. i'd love to hear your favorite moments, references, motifs, cameos, etc. and now that the story is officially over i can answer anything without a vague open-ended “… :)” at the end and that’s pretty poggers i think :)
> 
> okay that’s it for now. i love you all so much. thanks for coming along on my little ride :)
> 
> -lili @egirlpatches <3


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